


You'll Be Back

by truelyesoteric



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Harsh Language, IN SPACE!, M/M, Past Underage, Science Fiction, Slight Nudity, Werewolves in Space, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 17:38:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2781773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/truelyesoteric/pseuds/truelyesoteric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's the best CryoJumper in the universe. His face is unknown, his name is many things, his story is  contradictory and a myth. In his late teens he left one life for another, now biologically in his early twenties he's ready to leave that life for another. Its the moment where he reaches to contacts from his first life in order to exact the revenge that has lay dormant for the last twenty years. Twenty years that have seen his kind dominated and reduced to second class citizens.</p>
<p>On a station circling a two bit mining operation on the edge of space there is a bar. The owner is intimidating as hell, but his daughter is charming as he is scary. The patrons go in and out, but there are two strays who seem to live there. They showed up one day and the owner took them in. One's a hacker and one's a wolf.</p>
<p>On a little space station in the middle of nowhere five people happen to be in the same place at the same time. Each has a piece of the puzzle that can undo the catastrophic Were event, the Hale fire. They just have to realize it, to want it. And be willing to go back to where it all began. Back to Beacon Hills.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You'll Be Back

**Author's Note:**

> Begun because I thought that there wasn't enough Space fic in TW. Finished because of TW BB.
> 
> Art by the wonderful ataratah who was patient. See all artwork: http://ataratah.tumblr.com/post/105271152512/cryojumper

He was the best CryoJumper out there. For twenty-two years he had been the one requested to pilot and protect the most valuable shipments to the outer colonies. He was a quasi mercenary whose legend had taken on mythic proportions, even though no one knew his name, he was simply Jumper 43XJ3. For twenty years he had been the Flyer with the same Nav at his side, the last two he had been Solo Ops. The first twenty hadn’t been kind; the last two had been blatantly cruel.

His fingerprints were not in any of the Empire’s registries and his face was an enigma. He lived only on the whispers of rumors at a multitude of bases. His past was many things, all of them shady.

The rules for CryoJumpers were very strict. A pilot could only have ten years of CryoSleep and they had to be out of the pods for as long as they were in them, pilots also couldn’t start before they were twenty-one. The rules were solid, unbreakable, but rules didn’t apply to him. He had been in Cryo for fourteen of the last twenty years; he had taken his first mission at seventeen. Being a CryoJumper had been his life.

But even his reputation couldn’t extend his time; his werewolf genes had let him push the boundaries as far as anyone would let him. He didn’t care about CryoMadness, at times he thought it would be a relief, but nobody, not even the black market dealers would risk putting him under again.

His BioAge was twenty-three and he had enough Credits to last him his entire life; he wouldn’t even have to be thrifty. He was officially a retired CryoJumper. There was just one unfinished thing, something that he hadn’t been ready to do when he was seventeen, but had to do now.

He had one last mission.

For this one he wouldn’t get paid, but to him it was worth more than anything.

**

Scott was half under the bar, trying to fix the tap.

He popped his head out. “How about now?”

Stiles sighed and pushed his tablet to the side and leaned over to the tap. He pulled out a glass and held it under the spigot. White foam spluttered and filled up the glass, but hissing and spluttering.

“Nope,” Stiles said, sitting down again, taking the beer foam with him, returning to clicking on his tablet, sipping the foam.

“It’s ten am,” Scott said, his voice muffled as he went back under the counter.

“I’m nineteen and on the lam, I really think early morning drinking is hardly the most of my worries,” Stiles said. “Besides, this is just like a frothy breakfast drink. I’m a big hardy man on the run from the law.”

Scott popped his head out. “Dude, secret.”

Stiles toasted him with the glass. “We’re the only ones here.”

“Except for me,” Allison said popping over the counter and grinning at Scott.

He grinned back at her. “See Stiles, our cover is blown.”

“Hurry up and finish it,” she said peering at Stiles’s tablet; he pulled it away from her. “Dad wants the bar stocked by three.”

Scott gave her a weak smile.

Allison hopped back to the floor and stole Stiles’s glass and drank most of the foam.

“Hey,” Stiles said.

Allison wiped the foam off of her lip with the back of her hand and grinned at Stiles. “I totally worry about your potential alcoholism.”

“Yours is okay?” Stiles asked.

Allison bounded off. “My dad owns a bar and I’ve lived on seventeen stations in twenty years. If I don’t have raging alcoholism then I feel that I’m disappointing quite a few people.”

She walked off laughing.

Stiles leaned over and saw Scott peering up with that sappy smile on his face.

“Ask. Her. Out,” Stiles said, his often-repeated advice.

Scott shrugged and went back to fixing the tap and Stiles went back to his tablet.

“I find it odd that Argent has that antiquated tap,” Stiles said, his finger flying. “He’s making enough money to get a half decent digi one.”

“It’s part of the charm,” Allison said as she filled saltshakers.

“We’re on a space station, in actual space, I don’t want anything old fashioned up here because that is how things break and we get pulled out into the airless vacuum of space and die,” Stiles muttered into his tablet.

“Land brat,” Allison teased.

Stiles shrugged. He had the great fortune of spending eighteen of his years with his feet firmly planetside. He loved the wide-open sky and land and trees; the expanse of space was something that he hadn’t gotten used to yet.

He never complained now that he was space bound, though.

Scott had to run and Stiles was by his side. It was pretty much what he had done since the day Scott had gotten bitten; it was what he had done since kindergarten.

Scott had been bitten when he was sixteen and had stayed home as long as he could, but the Regulators were pushing at his mother’s door, they wanted him to bind to an Alpha and be a Beta. Scott, who was the stubborn sort underneath his goofy smile, kindly told them to fuck off.

Omegas didn’t react well to being planetside; Scott had found all of the Alphas back home wanting. And by wanting he meant batshit insane. The only Alphas who were still around after the Gerard Argent purge were the weak and corrupt. The only thing for Scott to do was to jump to the stars where the pull of the moon wouldn’t drive him insane. With him as always was Stiles, leading the way.

“All I know is that I’m the only one here who doesn’t have to have things done by the time Argent opens tonight,” Stiles said, looking back down at his tablet. “Because I’m not doing some kind of old fashioned manual labor.”

“Yes, you’re a genius of the waves,” Scott said, grinding something, possibly breaking it. “Loser.”

Stiles just smugly went back to his tablet. Allison cleaned the tables and Scott swore quietly beneath the bar. They worked at their tasks until a figure entered the door.

Stiles looked up and then did a double take. The guy was tall and scruffy and had a build that could make a blind man cry. He also walked in like he owned the place, he seemed to take in the video feeds and lack of security and stand there and let everyone have a good long look at him. Stiles appreciated all of that in a person. The guy also looked like a hard ass who wouldn’t look twice at Stiles, Stiles knew that was so his type.

Unfortunately, Allison was the first to move.

“We’re not open for a couple more hours,” she said with a smile. It was not her hostess smile, which was warm but also a little fake. This one was full of sunshine.

Scott sat up and nearly banged his head. “Is she flirting?”

Stiles raised an eyebrow, because he couldn’t blame her. If he had found his voice earlier he totally would have called dibs. “Don’t worry it isn’t her smile for you.”

Scott thoughts for a moment. “What is my smile?”

Stiles couldn’t think of anything in that second which was both accurate and not a blow to Scott’s manhood, which most definitely would be challenged by the guy who entered.

“He looks like a serial killer,” Stiles said instead.

Scott breathed in and then mouthed. “He’s a Were.”

Stiles looked again, as if he could find some detail to give him some kind of clue about the guy. The guy was pretty much nondescript menacing. He flexed his hand and Stiles looked down at the action. There was a scar on the back of his hand, perfectly round. Weres didn’t scar, unless there was some kind of decades long implant, like a CryoPort, had built up scar tissue.

Stiles nodded. That was a start.

The man seemed to be looking at Allison and not talking for longer than was socially acceptable, even in this dive in the far corner of a blue collar mining station.

The bar was a silent, the wake of Allison’s question echoing through it.

“I’m looking for Argent,” he said finally and it came out in a gruff growl.

Of course that was the voice that went along with that face, of course. Stiles huffed and looked back at his tablet, as if that would block out this guy’s existence. It had taken him leaving the planet and a six-month significant whore period to get over pining for a girl who had never given him the time of day. Nothing good was going to come of this guy being here, especially if he was the kind to pop in and then be gone for years.

Scott was glaring daggers at the man as Allison smiled at the man even more.

“Dad went to see a guy about some peanuts,” Allison said her hand touching his arm. “Stay here, he’ll be back soon.”

The guy’s shoulders stiffened and he looked down at her hand on his arm. The look on his face looked like it was calculating a whole bunch of things that Stiles didn’t have the math for.

Stiles moved to reach for the bat under the counter, never taking his eyes off of the man, he expected the worst. That instinct really had been helpful; people seemed to like to take shots at him.

Instead of sudden movements that would inevitably lead to violence, every muscle in the man relaxed and he seemed to lean in a little. Stiles could see the hard face crack into a smile.

“I can wait,” he said.

Allison grinned. “You want to wait over here? Food isn’t happening yet and the peanuts are non-existent and the tap is broken, but we have water.”

The guy nodded. “I’m good. I can just wait.”

Allison dimpled. “Need any advice about things to do while you’re here?”

He cocked his head as he sat. “You’ve been here long?”

“About a year,” Allison said, fussing with a place setting that didn’t need to be fussed with.

“Any advice about hot spots?” the man asked.

“You’ve come to the wrong station,” Allison laughed.

“Come tell me about it,” the guy said with a smile.

Allison came and sat down next to them and began talking to the man.

“Girl’s got game,” Stiles said approvingly.

“I hope that Chris kills him,” Scott said, his head popping up behind the bar.

Stiles turned back to the bar to retort when Chris came through the door and stopped.

The man seemed to register Chris, but he took his dear sweet time to slowly turn around and stand up to look at Chris.

There was recognition in both their eyes, but neither man spoke. It was Chris who moved first, motioning the man into the back room. The man got up and followed wordlessly. Allison looked between them startled.

Chris didn’t let anyone in back; Chris would usually throw out anyone who seemed to know him. That or shoot them. This man seemed to be quite the exception to all the rules.

Allison rushed over to Stiles. “You know that feed you put up in my dad’s office?”

Stiles’s face went blank. “What feed?”

“The one you use to spy on him with, don’t you want to know what is going on?” Allison urged.

Stiles looked over at Scott accusingly. Sharing secrets with Scott was sometimes a bad idea. Stiles sighed and opened the feed. Later Stiles was going to harass Scott. Stiles had quite the collection of mountain ash.

Stiles ran his hand over the screen again and suddenly the black and white image of Chris’s office cam into view.

_“The years have been kind to you,” Chris said, and his voice wasn’t appreciative of that fact._

_“They have been fair enough to you,” the man said with attempted diplomacy._

_“I expected you earlier,” Chris said, sitting in his chair._

_The man shrugged. “I took on extra work.”_

_“It’s a wonder you aren’t crazy, by now,” Chris said folding his arms, his eyes looking at the man, like they were trying to ascertain if in fact that was the case._

_“Werewolf constitution,” the man said tonelessly. “You do know that you have one out there.”_

_“Yeah, he’s a stray,” Chris said._

_The man raised his eyebrow. “You don’t like wolves. Or strays.”_

_Chris shrugged. “It’s been a long time. I have my reasons.”_

_The man raised his eyebrows. “I guess it has been a long time.”_

_“I cut all ties,” Chris said with more subtext than actual words._

_“The Omega has a thing for your daughter,” the man said ignoring whatever that piece of information meant, but his voice tremored at the words ‘your daughter.’_

_“That isn’t any of your business,” Chris said with finality. “You’re here for your things?”_

_The man nodded._

_Chris swiveled his chair and opened a small safe and pulled out a wooden box. He put it on the desk._

_“You have a name?” Chris asked._

_“Yes,” the man said, not offering anything more._

_“You’re probably going to want another one after,” Chris offered._

_“You going to help me?” the man asked, his eyebrows going upwards._

_“There is a kid out there who probably could help out with it,” Chris said._

_The man studied him for a moment. “Is he even old enough to be in a bar?”_

_“No,” Chris replied. “But his ID is rock solid and says he can be in there, stick around a few days and he can make you one even better. If you want, I can find you some details, maybe point you in the right direction.”_

_The man just glared at him._

_“I owe something,” Chris said. “If I do this then I can guiltlessly kick you out.”_

_The man breathed in and gave Chris a long look. “If you put your nose in this, you can’t undo it.”_

_Chris gave him the same stone-faced look, but didn’t say anything._

_When the man spoke it was softer, but still as striking. “She looks just like Laura.”_

_Chris didn’t move a muscle, but the conversation seemed to shift. “Laura?”_

_“Peter,” the man said, a growl underlying the response. They were having a different discussion than before and they seemed pretty adept at their shorthand._

_“Peter?” Chris asked steadily._

_The man flashed red eyes._

In the other room Stiles, Allison, and Scott jumped backwards.

“Holy shit he’s an Alpha,” Stiles whispered.  
   
Scott looked steadily at Allison who had her hand worrying by her mouth.

“I’m sure they aren’t talking about you,” Scott said soothingly.

They exchanged a look that said that they both knew that was a lie

“Who is Laura?” Stiles wondered aloud as they all leaned forward.

_“Seems you’ve forgotten how good I am,” Chris remarked. “This is easy.”_

_“You’d be willing to go up against him?” the man asked and his incredulity was palpable._

_“From the shadows,” Chris replied._

_“Why?” the man asked. “You will give me a new name and you will tell me where they are? That is a lot of favors.”_

_“You know why I would,” Chris said evenly._

_“You don’t have to,” the man replied._

_Chris pressed his lips together and then spoke. “You don’t even know how much I do.”_

_There was a thoughtful crease to his forehead._

_“Thank you,” the man said softly._

_“So yes?” Chris asked, clearing his throat._

_The man nodded._

_“Stiles,” Chris bellowed._

In the other room Stiles jumped and hurriedly dumped the feed off the screen.

“Boss man wants me,” Stiles said to them, as if they didn’t actually hear Chris. Half the station probably had heard Chris.

Scott put a hand on his arm. “Do you think this is a good idea?”

Stiles snorted. “After everything Chris has done for us, I don’t think that I can say no. Good graces and all.”

Scott sighed. “There are so many secrets around here.”

“Oh there won’t be soon enough,” Stiles said with a grin, holding up his tablet. “This is awesome and I know all-eventually.”

Allison’s face was still worried. Stiles tried to give Scott a nonverbal ‘go get her’, he turned around and hoped that Scott would get it. He probably did, but no amount of prodding had been able to push Scott in that direction. Scott was an immovable force underneath the sweet smile.

Stiles smiled at him and then scuttled to the backroom.

“You called docilely?” Stiles asked.

Both of the men in the room glowered at him.

“So much love,” Stiles said, stepping in the room. “I should totally go.”

“Stiles, I need you to set up a new ID, for Mr. – “ Chris trailed off.

“Michael Sullivan,” the man supplied.

Stiles looked up and down the man. Black pants, tight shirt, leather jacket, intense green eyes, most definitely not named Michael Sullivan.

“Doesn’t suit you,” Stiles said, watching as his inspection caused ‘Michael Sullivan’s’ eyebrows to rise.

“Well your job is to find me one that does,” ‘Michael Sullivan’ said.

“I’ll pay for whatever you need,” Chris said.

Stiles’s eyes grew wide. “That is like 75,000 credits, even with the friends and family discount.”

“I’ll pay,” Chris said.

Stiles’s jaw dropped a little bit and he looked at the new guy, trying to see whatever it was that was pushing Chris to do this.

He had nothing at the moment.

“Anything else?” he asked, trying to figure out who Chris would possibly be doing recon on.

Chris gave him a dismissive hand to Stiles. “I’ve got it kid, go work.”

Stiles looked over at ‘Michael Sullivan’ and swallowed.

“I’m going to need to get some info from you in order to make your new life,” Stiles said.

The man nodded and turned back to Chris. Stiles went to the door and then paused.

“Does anyone call you Mikey?” Stiles asked.

The man looked at him and seemed to be trying to figure out if Stiles was being serious or not.

“Not if they want to live,” the man said.

“Stiles, go start building an ID,” Chris muttered.

Stiles left the room slowly, voices still clear.

“Where did you find him,” ‘Michael Sullivan’ asked.

“I knew his father,” Chris replied cautiously. “He came with the werewolf so both of them are here with me for a little while.”

“Atoning for all the sins of the family,” the man said. “One reject at a time.”

“Hopefully you’ll be the last,” Chris said. “You go too, I’m going to figure out my approach. You go and please try not to hit on my daughter.”

The man let out a strangled noise and Stiles ducked away. Scott and Allison were out by the outer doors and Stiles pulled them away from the door. He motioned for them to look like they were doing something. Stiles dove into his booth at the back and began to pull together the templates. Scott was doing an impressive job of cleaning the bar like he had never actually seen a rag or a flat surface before. Allison was giving the saltshakers way too much attention.

‘Michael Sullivan’ came out from the back and ignored Scott and Allison and their bad acting. He came and sat down across from Stiles.

Stiles held up a hand and continued to arrange things on his tablet.

He could feel annoyance streaming off of the other guy. Stiles tried not to smile. He found that it only made people try to strangle him. He liked his people pissed off, not in the mood for assault. It was a balance that he had found through trial and painful error.

Finally Stiles put down the tablet and looked at ‘Michael Sullivan’. He was glaring. Stiles reminded himself that he was in Chris’s establishment and this guy was getting favors from Chris. This guy had to be reasonably safe, or at least wouldn’t kill him until he finished this job. Stiles assured himself that he wasn’t terrified.

“So I have rules,” Stiles said facing off to him.

The guy raised his eyebrows in surprised

Stiles leaned forward and hoped that the guy wasn’t the punching type.

“First, I’m not calling you Michael Sullivan,” Stiles said. “It sounds like the jocks that used to harass us before Scott got the bite. Michael Sullivan sounds stupid.”

“Like Stiles sounds like a brain trust,” the guys said showing more teeth, although human teeth, they were more than you wanted to see from an Alpha.

“I’m undercover,” Stiles said defensively.

“Really?” the guy asked.

“No, it’s been my handle for years,” Stiles said deflating.

“You’re not making up a name for me,” the guy said.

“Than give me something I can work with,” Stiles said.

“No name is random,” the guy said. “You strike me as the type to dig a little deep into anything I tell you.”

Stiles grinned a little at him. “You’re smarter than your muscles give you credit for.”

The guy smirked at him. “Sully.”

Stiles nodded. “You do know that I can make up some great nicknames with that.”

Sully leaned in and Stiles felt his heart start racing, for many reasons. “I dare you.”

Stiles was struck dumb with fear. Part of him wanted to lean in, the other part wanted to run away. Instead he sat there with an absurd look on his face.

“Didn’t you say something about rules?” Sully growled.

“First was the name,” Stiles said, his mind flipped from being annoying to planning in just a second. “Second is that you are going to have to tell me things about you. A true ID comes from elements of the truth. I’ll set everything up and you will come to my place and help me fill in the blanks. So think of things that you like or you can do so I can build you a life around that.”

Sully didn’t look overly happy about that, but he didn’t say anything.

“Third, you will not under any circumstances touch any of my computers,” Stiles said. “This is a big one. You can also not eat around my computers. You can thank Scott for that one. Fourth, you will not question me or ask about my past, this is not a quid pro quo thing.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “Anything else?”

Stiles was a little surprised that there wasn’t more arguments. “Nobody has ever made it to four without a lot of arguing.”

“Tell me where to find you place and I’ll be there,” Sully said.

Stiles blinked repeatedly.

“Look kid,” Sully said standing up. “I have a lot of things I need to do in a very small amount of time, so I’m going to go with this so I can get out of here. I’ve met a lot of Wackers in my days; I expect this to be done in days and not weeks. I don’t accept excuses.”

Stiles looked thoughtful. “Wacker dude? I don’t know where you are from, but where I’m from that is kind of not a good word, you sound like my grandmother. I mean my father slips and says it every once in awhile, but seriously dude.”

Sully cocked his head. “Noted.”

With that Sully stood up and turned to Stiles. “It will be ready when I leave.”

Stiles just watched him walk away. At first his brain was just trying to piece together what Sully hadn’t been saying, but he managed to jump out of his brain long enough to watch Sully’s ass leave the bar. Scott slid into the seat next to him.

“So…” Scott began.

Allison came over and sat in the chair across from him. “Spill.”

“I think he’s a CryoJumper,” Stiles said finally. “I think he was under for a very long time.”

Allison lit up and Scott slumped down.

“That explains how he’s so young and knows dad,” Allison said, then she leaned in and looked towards the door. “Do you think that this Laura is my mom?”

Stiles thought about it for a second then he looked at Allison. “Do you really want to go there?”

Allison looked down at the table and then squared her jaw at Stiles. “I love my dad, I couldn’t ask for a better father, but I’ve always wondered about my mom.”

“Allison,” Scott said softly. “Maybe he hasn’t told you anything because he doesn’t want you to know, what he said in that room doesn’t sound like people that you should want to get to know.”

Allison’s face worried a little. “I have a aunt and a grandfather who basically are shoot Weres first and ask questions later, I’ve never met them because of a huge family falling out before I was born. I don’t keep in touch with people after I leave a base and I’ve been to many. I don’t even know what my mother looks like, who she is, her name. Wouldn’t you want to know?”

Scott saw her pleading eyes and turned towards Stiles.

“His mother yeah, but I think we both could go the rest of our lives without ever seeing his father or knowing who he was,” Stiles said. “Sometimes parents aren’t worth it.”

Allison bit her lip. “My dad is a good person. He is the one who says that we need to protect those who can’t protect themselves.”

Stiles and Scott exchanged a look. “Allison, he’s also an Argent. Their code is less, in the last ten years they have all but abandoned it.”

“I know it is stupid,” Allison said. “What if she was the one who turned him into a better man?”

“You might find that she burned him,” Stiles said gently.

Allison thought about it for a moment and then her face hardened. “Can you do it?”

“There are a lot of variables,” Stiles said thoughtfully. “I mean looking for someone who was on the moon base twenty years ago who was named or nicknamed Laura who might look something like you is a pretty big search.”

“Start on Beacon Hills,” Allison said. “Dad said something once, I think I might have been born there. See, I don’t even know where I was born, you can do this Stiles, don’t even pretend you can’t.”

Stiles breathed in. “It’s more if I should.” 

Allison’s eyes narrowed. “This coming from you?”

Stiles shrugged and leaned back. “Fair enough, but you might not get answers that you want.”

Allison nodded and got up.

Scott stood up and rushed to her. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

Allison looked at him blankly. “We’re working, we usually eat dinner together.”

“I mean after, just the two of us,” Scott said.

Allison shrugged. “I am meeting Sully after, I’m going to take him up to the observation deck.”

She walked off and Scott turned and sat down heavily.

“That may have been bad timing,” Stiles said.

“You think?” Scott asked.

Stiles blinked. “That is a surprising amount of sarcasm for you, buddy.”

Scott glared at him and went back to clean the bar in what seemed more like an attack.

Stiles blinked, but too many thoughts came into his head to actually He picked up his touch pad and left the bar. He didn’t want to stay there a have more things come up until he filled the current questions.

 

**

Stiles loved his room. His one demand when he took off with Scott was that he take every piece of his system. Stiles’s ship had been uncomfortably full for the three days it had taken to reach the station.

He flicked on the three screens and listened to the familiar hum. He had plenty of facial recognition software, plenty of ways to hack into all personal files on seventy solar systems, and ‘cherry’ chews, which were stale and nothing like cherries, but all that would help figure out who this ‘Michael Sullivan’ was quickly. Then Stiles would start the framework for Sully’s new identity.

Two hours later there was a knock on his door.

He had found nothing.

Stiles looked up startled and hastily hid all of his snooping, that had lead him absolutely nowhere. Michael Sullivan was not on any database and even the CryoJumper database was surprisingly blank. It was way too clean.

Stiles leapt up and opened the door.

Sully was on the other side. Stiles blinked repeatedly.

“I’m meeting Allison in a few hours,” Sully said curtly. “We should start.”

Stiles glanced back at his computer, just to make sure nothing was still on his screen.

“What were you doing in here?” Sully asked, looking in the room behind Stiles.

“Masturbating,” Stiles said hurriedly.

Sully’s eyebrows rose.

“You know,” Stiles said making an awkward suggestive face. He nodded at Sully as if he actually believed what he was saying.

Sully shook his head and tapped his nose. “Liar.”

“That is creepy,” Stiles said. “Stop smelling me.”

“Then don’t lie to me,” Sully said.

Stiles took in a deep breath and nodded. “I won’t lie, you don’t ask questions that you know I won’t answer.”

“Does this go along with the whole only answer the truth,” Sully asked with a mocking smile. “Doesn’t sound like we’re going to have many conversations.”

“You the conversational sort?” Stiles asked, squaring his jaw.

Sully gave him a half grin, but said nothing.

Stiles rolled his eyes and pulled up the blank platform on his computer that he was going to build this guy a life.

“You were born,” Stiles said.

“Apparently,” Sully told him.

“That wasn’t a question,” Stiles replied, flipping through some files.

Sully cocked his head.

“Parents?” Stiles asked.

“Two,” Sully said between clenched teeth.

“They both raised you?” Stiles asked, trying not to look at Sully, he knew that he would look way to interested in the answers. He attempted calm indifference.

“Yes,” Sully said in a growl.

Stiles’s eyes shot up to Sully. Stiles was terrible at indifference. Stiles was also not so much a physical contact in platonic ways with random strangers type of guy, but at that moment the look in Sully’s eyes really made him want to give Sully a hug.

“Siblings?” Stiles said softly.

The answers seemed to be forced out of the guy. “Two. Sisters. Older. Younger.”

The guy’s green eyes seemed to be attempting to dare him to push, dare him to ask more. They guy’s eyes also seemed to be blinking too much. It was achingly familiar. It was the face that Stiles had worn from eight to thirteen. Pain and anger only meant one thing. . Stiles didn’t have to ask if they were alive or not. He knew the answer well enough.

They were all dead.

Also that any kind of attempts at comfort would probably end with his arm chewed off. Stiles decided a new conversation needed to happen.

“So when did you loose your virginity?” Stiles asked with a suggestive look. “We’re talking about all kinds of virginity and if you only know of one then that says a lot about you.”

The look on Sully’s face melted into immediate relief and a slight hint of gratitude at the complete change of topics. Then he seemed to remember himself and glare at Stiles, but this one held no heat to it.

“The best lies are based on the truth,” Stiles said innocently.

Sully leaned in, his lips pursing a little, bringing out those cheekbones a little more. His eyes weren’t angry any more, they were still kind of angry, just that kind of angry that lead to sex against walls.

“And the truth,” Sully said, his voice low and a little husky. “Is that I know what I like.”

Stiles eyes went to Sully’s lips, wondering if Sully was lying.

“If you don’t believe me,” Sully said, motioning to the bed. “I’m sure I could teach you a couple of things.”

Stiles looked at the bed and bit his lips, images of possibilities running through his head faster than he could get a handle on them. Slowly Stiles clutched the tablet to his chest and pulled back.

“Pie,” Stiles said, trying not to squeak. “What is your favorite kind of pie?”

Sully’s mouth quirked, Stiles could almost see him tallying up the score. Stiles was pretty sure that he was losing.

“Cherry,” Sully replied with a wink.

Stiles breathed and tried to unthink images of Sully on his bed.

**

 

Stiles had slid past Scott, who was dealing with the late night crowd, Allison had already gone off to meet Sully. Stiles didn’t want to think about that at all. The rest of their conversation had been limited, it had been single word answers to complex questions, all avoiding anything that could be innuendo. Stiles wasn’t used to pushing someone verbally and having them be able to push his buttons right back. It was unsettling and because of that the whole session had been fairly uninformative.

All Stiles knew at this point was that Sully was sharp and hypervigilant about protecting himself and his secrets. Whenever Stiles would prod with a question that could skirt on getting to know what was under the Sully moniker the damned werewolf would press his lips together and shake his head once.

By the end of their hours together Stiles was beginning to suspect that Sully was more than enjoying himself. There seemed to be laugh lines around eyes that weren’t as hard and a bit of a grin in those pressed lips.

Even Sully leaving to go have a late dinner with Allison had made his stomach sink. Irrational crushes on unattainable supremely attractive people was kind of his specialty.

Fortunately Chris had commed and Stiles had made way to the bar to find Chris hunched over his screen.

“You summoned?” Stiles asked, striding into Chris’s office.

“How’s it going, kid?” Chris asked, leaning back.

Stiles shrugged. “Looks like it is going to be a tough job.”

Chris looked at Stiles with those light blue eyes that seemed to pierce into everything and just know what he was thinking. Stiles was on this station because his father had made the call to Chris, Stiles had no idea how his father knew Chris, they didn’t seem to have anything in common. All Stiles knew was that once upon a time they had both resided in Beacon Hills.

“I need a favor,” Chris finally said.

Stiles raised an eyebrow. “I thought the very highly illegal thing that I am doing right now was a favor to you.”

Chris rolled his eyes. “That is a job, one that you are being handsomely paid for. That is also more of a repayment of a favor to—“ Chris paused, seemingly searching for the name ‘Michael Sullivan’ and then giving up. “Him. I owe him a favor from a long time ago and you are the avenue by which that favor will happen. That isn’t a favor between the you and me. That is a favor between him and me and a job for you.”

Stiles was always a little in awe by the strict standards of Chris Argent’s life. He held himself to an exhaustible level of fairness and consistency to his word.

“Do you owe my father a favor?” Stiles asked without thinking.

He watched Chris’s face go through a few micro expressions of surprise before turning back into the mask of neutrality.

Stiles’s mind spun through the possible outcomes of him pushing it. He figured at this point he was far too valuable to lose, he had nothing to lose, there was this big gaping hole of information on his father that he didn’t have, those years right before his father met his mother. Stiles couldn’t imagine how his father knew Chris and his mind desperately wanted to know.

“Am I a favor that my father owes you now, or am I a debt being repaid?” Stiles asked.

Chris could shut him down as easy as any thing, instead Chris leaned back in his chair and studied Stiles.

“Do you keep track between you and Scott, who is owed what?” Chris finally said.

“No, he’s my best friend,” Stiles replied.

“If he sent his wayward son to you, asking you to keep him safe would you think that something was owed?” Chris asked.

Stiles’s brow furrowed. “You and my dad are friends?”

“Were,” Chris said. “Maybe are. There isn’t anything bad between us, he was once the best friend I ever had. You two are here because once your dad, Rafeal, and me were pretty tight.”

Stiles knew that his face took on a comical look of shock. “You knew Scott’s dad? And you were friends with him?”

Chris made a face. “I was with your dad. Rafe is a little more complicated.”

“Yeah,” Stiles said. “Rafael McCall is not one you do favors for.”

“We were a bit wild back then,” Chris said slowly, parsing out words. There seemed to be so many stories between each one. He was speaking in an understatement that Stiles almost couldn’t believe. “Then we all went through some stuff and had to grow up, we went our ways after that. I had Allison, your dad met your mom, and Rafael, well he gave it a try, but he couldn’t seem to shake things.”

Stiles blinked. He couldn’t reorder everything he knew fast enough to assimilate this information. He was going to need some time, probably some alcohol, and he was going to do a whole lot more digging. Something happened back in Beacon Hills, something huge.

“You boys are here because I’d hope that if it came to it, your father or Rafael would look after Allison, if I couldn’t,” Chris continued. “And because I probably always will think of those two as friends.”

Stiles attempted to close his gaping mouth and compose himself.

“Do you want me to do something because you were friends with my father?” Stiles asked, still not able to picture his down home Sheriff father who dealt with speeding helocars and vandalizing kids, whose biggest worry was his cholesterol, with an Argent, who on a weekly basis broke up near death frights and intimidated everyone with guns and knives and his fists. He couldn’t even begin to incorporate Scott’s lousy brutish dad into this mix.

Chris shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t ask that. You don’t know me and I’m not taking payment for taking you two in. You support yourself, I’m just here to make sure you live between the lines. I told you this was a favor that I would owe you, collectable at any time.”

Stiles knew he was going to take it, having Chris Argent owe him was a golden ticket get out of the brig free card that he was going to love and cherish and snuggle with until he was in shit over his head. Then he was going to call it in. This was an epic safety net on a life that was unsure like he didn’t know what was happening or what he was going to do with.

“Is it illegal?” Stiles asked, trying to ponder and perhaps get more information.

Chris snorted. “More than establishing a new identity and saturating official databases with false information?”

“Point,” Stiles said. “I guess it can’t be worse than that.”

Chris pulled out a small silver cylinder. “I need you to dupe all the information that you make on him.”

Stiles stared at the memory ball. It was old fashioned, but it was a classic. It would stand the test of all time. It would show all the work that he would put in creating Sully’s new identity.

“You’re asking me to shirk my professional reputation?” Stiles asked.

“Nobody would know,” Chris said, sounding as solemn as an oath.

Stiles raised his eyebrows. “Why would you have me create a new identity and then give you the pieces so anyone can find him?”

“It isn’t so I can turn against him,” Chris said firmly. “I just need it, just in case.”

“I won’t let you set him free so you can blackmail him or send assassins after him,” Stiles said. “That is just shoddy black-market dealing.”

“Damn it Stiles, I’m not going to even look at the damn thing,” Chris said, his fist coming down hard on the table.

Stiles jumped back and looked at Chris with wide eyes. He had seen Chris fell a man with a carefully aimed punch just last night, a few months ago he had seen Chris land a man in the hospital with his bare hands. The man still couldn’t walk.

“Then why do you want it?” Stiles asked, he was more than ashamed of how much his voice sounded like a child’s at that moment.

Chris gave him the full on ice blue knife-edge stare. “I’m not telling you that.”

Stiles opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

“I’m not going to ever show it to someone who will go after him, I will never look at it,” Chris repeated, this time calmly. “I need it just in case, for a reason that isn’t going to kill him, that I’m not going to tell you.”

Stiles looked at Chris. His balance point of right and wrong was a little skewed, but Chris was a good guy, a guy who called his father a friend. Chris didn’t have friends.

Against his better judgment and a whole lot of questions Stiles reached out and took the silver object.

“You owe me big time,” Stiles said.

Chris nodded. “Thank you.”

Stiles left the room in a hurry. His life was once normal, boring but normal. Then Scott got bit. Now every waking moment brought something new and insanely confusing.

Stiles looked at Scott sulking at the bar, most definitely over Allison defecting to the dark dangerous and mysterious. His life was insane and confusing like nothing he could even imagine.

Stiles smiled a little. This was really insane, he loved it.

Stiles took his seat at the far side of the bar. Scott pretty much scrambled over.

“What do you think they are doing?” Scott asked, pouring Stiles a drink.

Stiles bit his lip. “If there is a decent spirit in the universe he is talking about me.”

Scott gave him the most haggard expression. “I was bit by a rabid werewolf and we were exiled from our family and our home planet.”

“Yeah, they are probably having sex and not thinking about us whatsoever,” Stiles sighed.

Scott’s face redefined crestfallen.

“So distraction?” Stiles asked.

“We’re not going on a space walk again,” Scott said. “We nearly spent the rest of our lives floating in the void of space.”

“Nah, this isn’t a dare,” Stiles said. “This is more a truth.”

“Real truth, or Stiles truth?” Scott asked.

Stiles fixed him with a glare.

Scott grinned a little.

“So Chris just told me that he, my dad, and your dad were besties back in the day,” Stiles whispered, looking at the door to the office.

Scott’s eyebrows shot off his head. “My dad had friends?”

Stiles nodded. “I think that they got into a whole lot of trouble, something happened and they went their separate ways.”

Scott looked thoughtful. “What do you think it was?”

Stiles thought for a moment. “Didn’t they have something to do with the fire that dare not speak its name in his presence? The Hale fire?”

Scott made a face, thinking back to the vague whispers of stories of the great fire that ended the peace of the Wolves, before the fall of favor of werewolves, before they were condemned. The battle of Were suppression stemmed from one incident, the Hale fire. The family had burned and the leader of the Weres had died. In the vacuum she left the Weres in factions and none of those factions held the sway of the whole. Things crumbled pretty quickly. Argents came in and made equality a thing of the past.

“Do you think Argents and the Hales have something to do with it?” Scott said, trying to remember.

“I think so,” Stiles said. History had never been what had drawn him, he always wanted to know what was going on in the present, besides, the parents adamantly refused to talk about the fire. It brought sadness on Stiles’s father’s face and brutal rage on Scott’s father’s.

“Arg,” Scott growled. “It happened like two years before we were born, in our own back yard. Why don’t we know this?”

“Because nobody talks about it. I can find it,” Stiles said, with a little uncertainty and a little doubt.

Back home they still did a lot on paper, the records of a small town on an unimportant edge of the empire weren’t all that easy to come by.

“Wasn’t there a Laura Hale?” Stiles asked, face scrunching up. “Talia’s oldest, she was the one who was supposed to take over.”

Scott nodded slowly. “What are the chances that Sully has something to do with all of this? He’s probably our parent’s age back then.”

“I don’t know,” Stiles said, hating the sound of that on his tongue. “His bio age is twenty three, but the Cryo on his cells are unreadable. I have no idea how old he is, how to place him.”

“What are the chances anyway?” Scott sighed.

“In this world there are no such things as coincidences. Although, nice way to bring it back around to Sully, are you sure you don’t actually have a crush on him and not Allison.”

Scott threw a bar rag at his head.

**

Stiles would lie to everyone he ever met for the rest of his life about it, but he went to the observation deck after waving Scott to the bar clean up. He stayed to the edge, but he didn’t need to, the objects of his observance was too wrapped up in themselves to notice him.

Allison was doing the talking, her dimples were at full force as she was talking. She was obviously comfortable, her body was leaning in. Sully was obviously into it. He was watching her, his body was motionless, but his eyes were lit up, watching her, taking her in. Stiles tilted his head.

First glance was of a newly acquainted couple, backed by the light of a million stars, but as Stiles watched he began to see things differently. Allison’s hands were storytelling and Sully’s rested on the table between them. There was a space between them, a comfortable one, one without the static of wanting to cross the divide.

Stiles looked at Sully, the scruff of the beard, the curve of his lips, the way his hands played around the cup in front of him. He was an unmovable object of infuriating untold stories. Stiles itched to crack his head open and get all the answers out. More than any other person that he had met, this Sully man was something that Stiles didn’t understand and he wanted to.

He watched them for a few more minutes and the vision of the two settled. They were two people who were enjoying each other’s company. Stiles was sure that they wouldn’t be two people who would find a darkened corner and do the visceral screw of two people on an adventure.

Scott would be happy at least, Stiles knew that he had a lot of work to do. He had like three jobs to do, and none of them looked easy.

**

In silence, he slipped out of the observatory and back to his glowing room. By the time his morning alarm rang, his fingers ached. The fire of the Hale House in Beacon Hills was referred to in places. It was the moment was when Talia Hale, the result of a long legacy that kept the werewolves of the universe organized and accepted, died. The family spoke in the Galaxy Council. When she died the forces against the wolves crumpled the inroads of a hundred years. The peace and acceptance that she had held together with her own two hands and a will of steel crumpled with the vacuum of her absence.

Choice was something that Weres didn’t have any more. They were all shackled to Alphas, ones who could be controlled. Those who went outside of the very tight rules were found dead. Giving the bite was illegal, the penalty was death. Everything the Weres did that could be construed as remotely wrong held the penalty of death.

Those who had Were blood by birth, but weren’t Were were beginning to be targeted and called out, they had long been called ‘Carriers’. For centuries they walked seamlessly between Were and Human and accepted by both. Now it was different in the human world. They could pass, but their blood showed who they were. There were some hospitals that wouldn’t treat those who were ‘crossbreeds’.

Stiles was aware enough about it, about the face of the movement, of Kate and Gerard Argent. It hadn’t meant much to him as a child. It didn’t mean much to him, until Scott had woken up with a case of the werewolf.

Then he had done nothing but take up the Cause of Scott, there was a whole movement he had ignored and only been concerned with keeping his friend safe. Stiles had never given a thought to the bigger picture. He had cursed the Hale fire, anyone who knew a Were did, but information about the specifics were surprisingly sparse.

Finding information, the whys and the whos were virtually nonexistant. For such a monumental moment in Human/Were relations, it was shockingly undocumented.

In Stiles’s experience that meant that something very shady was going on.

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing, including things that should have been there, like Chris Argent. There was no mention that he had ever been in Beacon Hills, but Stiles’s comfortable residence on this space station attested to the fact that Chris Argent had been in Beacon Hills. Stiles looked at police logs and there were holes that seemed odd, they seemed to be perfect Chris Argent sized holes.

Stiles sighed and used his father’s passcode to get into the police files. Something had to be there.

The painstakingly slow files began to download from light years away. Stiles felt a pang. He missed his father. He wasn’t one for homesickness, not every day. Sometimes though when the adventure waned and life was only life, he would think about home. He worried that he would never see Beacon Hills again. It was boring and plain, but it was where he had gown up, where he thought he’d die. When he was seven he thought he was going to marry Lydia Martin and work with his father. He had liked the life that his eight-year-old self had constructed.

And now he was floating on a station above an asteroid belt and he didn’t know if he would ever see his father again.

He shook himself and grabbed his tablet and ran to the simulator for his second session with ‘Michael Sullivan.’

**

“This is ridiculous,” Sully muttered.

“I need to check out your physical responses,” Stiles said. “Like what if I put that you are a marathon runner and it turns out you have a bum knee.”

“I’m a werewolf,” Sully growled. “I don’t have a bum knee.”

Stiles leaned over the screens on the dash. This felt safer than his bedroom. Sully was in the next room, strapped in the simulator, his face and his vitals were on the screens. Stiles could observe without Sully knowing.

“No, but you have a scar,” Stiles said, pressing the buttons for the first test.

Sully’s eyes were looking heavenward. “Was that a question?”

Stiles had never been one for the direct approach, but he might as well give it a try.

“Are you a CryoJumper?” Stiles asked, tapping his fingers on the dash.

Sully looked straight in the camera. “Was.”

“Your BioAge is twenty-three,” Stiles said softly. “How old would you be if you hadn’t been in stasis?”

Sully bit his lip, thinking. “Thirty-eight.”

Stiles did the math. None of it seemed to add up. It couldn’t add up by any stretch of the rules.

“I don’t suppose if I ask how that is possible you would answer?” Stiles asked.

“You’re a smart guy,” Sully answered.

“I want to see if you can fly, what your body is capable of, and if you are in fact insane, because if you are telling me the truth then you should be CryoMad,” Stiles said.

Sully sighed. “I don’t lie.”

Stiles leaned in on the camera that was focused on Sully’s face. He looked at it for a second and then asked the question that he really wanted to know.

“Have you heard of Beacon Hills?” Stiles asked.

There was a micro facial movement and then a sigh of exasperation. “I’m a Were. Of course I’ve heard of Beacon Hills.”

“I grew up there,” Stiles said.

Sully’s eyes flicked and then closed. “That explains it.”

“Chris was in Beacon Hills,” Stiles stated.

“Not a question,” Sully muttered. “Not my story.”

“Are you a friend of Chris?” Stiles asked.

“No,” Sully answered.

“At some point your stories merged,” Stiles pointed out. “Chris isn’t one for altruism for strangers.”

“Not a question,” Sully replied.

“Would you answer any one that I had?” Stiles asked.

“I fuck whatever attracts me,” Sully said exasperated. “My Cryo scores are in the top percentile, I’m not insane, and I have been to Beacon Hills. Those are probably facts that will help you. Chris Argent won’t. Can we start the test?”

Stiles raised an eyebrow and leaned into the microphone and spoke in a raspy voice. “So what interests you?”

“Stiles, start the goddamned tests so I can get out of this machine or I’m going to tear your vocal chords out with my teeth,” Sully growled.

“So that is your thing?” Stiles asked. “I really don’t like pain all that much.”

“Stiles,” Sully growled.

“Simulator will begin in ten seconds,” Stiles sighed. “Get ready to show me those top percentile skills, we’ll talk about your other skills later.”

“Stiles,” Sully growled again.

Stiles sat in the darkened com room and grinned.

“Pay attention, slacker,” Stiles said and watched Sully begin the program.

**

Scott looked at Stiles’s tablet.

“You’re making that up,” Scott said.

“Those are his numbers,” Stiles said. “I ran all the tests twice.”

Scott tilted the tablet and Stiles snatched it out of his hands.

“Its not going to make more sense that way,” Stiles said. “I have no idea how I’m going to hide his caliber. I have no idea how his caliber is not on the records. He has been hidden by something high up and I’m supposed to bury him more and I’m not entirely sure how I’m supposed to do it without unburying him.”

“What the fuck even is going on?” Scott asked.

Stiles shrugged. “I have no idea. But I found Chris Argent in Beacon Hills.”

Scott looked excited. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Stiles said. “He was arrested a couple of times and let go, they don’t mention why he was never charged, but I’m guessing that they figured out that his last name was Argent.”

“When?” Scott asked.

“Twenty-one years ago,” Stiles said. “The same year as the Hale fire.”

Scott looked through the charges. “Shocking, he had guns on him during all of the charges.”

Stiles tapped the tablet and another file popped up. “Look who he was arrested with.”

“A seventeen year old?” Scott said.

“No, you goof,” Stiles said, pointing to another file.

“My dad,” Scott exclaimed.

“Twice,” Stiles said. “And once my dad was brought in for questioning.”

Scott perked up and stared at the door. After a few seconds Allison came into the bar laughing, followed by Sully who had his hands in his jacket pocket. He had a smile on his face, something that made him look like he was a real person and not a mysterious black hole.

“That guy I could give a new identity,” Stiles said.

Sully looked up, his eyes taking on a wary glaze.

Stiles turned towards Scott who was glaring at Sully. “Hand me the Wolf Juice and Stiles Juice, we’re on to Phase Three.”

“Stiles Juice is usually Phase Five,” Scott said.

“I’m speeding up the process,” Stiles said. “Mister Mysterious is on a tight schedule.”

Scott reached behind the bar and pulled out two bottles. “Godspeed, get him out of here.”

Stiles took the bottles and turned around to Sully who was rolling his eyes at Scott.

Allison was looking between the two of them.

Stiles ignored it all. “Ready big guy.”

Sully looked at him skeptically. “No.”

“Drunken confessions are needed,” Stiles said.

“No,” Sully said, crossing his arms.

“Are you a werewolf alcoholic?” Stiles asked.

“No,” Sully answered.

“Then we are drinking,” Stiles said. “I promise that I’m not going to get you drunk and take advantage of you. Your virtue is safe with me.”

Sully opened his mouth to retort but Chris came in and everyone paused.

“Give me a second,” Chris said, walking towards the back room.

Stiles looked at Scott but he had no idea who Chris was speaking to. Sully had no such issue as he followed Chris.

Allison, Stiles and Scott were still for a moment and then they all moved to Stiles’s tablet. Stiles fingers flew and Chris’s office appeared on the screen.

_“What the hell did you do to Deucalion?” Chris said angrily._

_Sully blinked. “Deucalion? I barely know the man. He was a friend of my mother’s.”_

_“You must have done something,” Chris said. “He has every underground contact looking for you.”_

_“I didn’t do anything to him,” Sully growled. “I was a kid when I left and if you haven’t noticed I’ve been in deep space most of my life, most of his life. He was a nice guy, bent on peace.”_

_“Not any more, not since the fire and the whole Were world being broken, not since my father nearly blinded him, he’s looking for you,” Chris said. “Just a warning.”_

_“Good to know,” Sully said, attempting to leave._

_Chris reached out and grabbed his arm. Sully could have shaken it off but he stilled._

_“He’s after you,” Chris repeated. “He’s lost it. He’s collecting the best and I think that you know why he would want you. He’s trying to get things better by collecting the power.”_

_“He wants my Alpha,” Sully said quietly._

_“Do you blame him?” Chris said silently._

_Sully thought for a moment. “Light a fire under the kids ass.”_

Sully came out and Stiles flicked the feed away and they all tried to look innocent. Sully grabbed the bottles and motioned towards Stiles. Stiles grabbed his tablet and winked at Allison and followed Sully out the door and down the corridor towards his room.

“Maybe I should worry about my virtue,” Stiles said, stumbling after Sully’s rapid strides. “We’re going to my room?”

“I’m not being drunk in public,” Sully said, turning a corner quickly and nearly knocking over a random pedestrian.

Stiles stammered out the apologies that Sully was too busy to make and then almost broke into a run towards Sully’s disappearing back.

He was nearly out breath when he came into his room, Sully sitting at his desk, the bottles in front of him.

“How does this work?” Sully asked.

Stiles put down the tablet and looked at the bottles.

“What is the last thing you remember about your mother?” Stiles asked.

Sully looked up at him in anger and pain.

“I can’t make you a fake identity that you can’t burden, you can’t look like that when you talk about your family, it’s a dead give away that it was bad,” Stiles said quietly. “My mother died when I was eight. I was in the hospital room when she died, it was bad and painful, but it was years ago and I don’t still look like someone ripped my heart out or that I’m going to rip someone else’s heart out. You can’t look like that if you’re going to be someone else.”

Sully looked at him for a moment, closed his eyes. When he opened it everything bad was gone, instead there was a smiling man.

“I talked to my mother last night on the phone,” he said. “We had a great talk, she’s thinking about taking Claire on a star cruise for her graduation from the academy. My dad still can’t get the converter fixed and it’s causing such problems for the neighborhood station, but really it’s hilarious.”

Stiles didn’t know where he was for a second, until the bright shining man before him frowned and Sully was back.

“I know how to do cover,” Sully said angrily. “I can talk about someone else’s life.”

Stiles grabbed the bottle and took a swig. Sully reached for his too. Stiles took three huge gulps and when he lowered the bottle Sully was staring at him.

“You don’t talk about your mother,” Sully said, taking a long swig from his bottle.

“Never,” Stiles said. “But I’m able to without breaking.”

Sully leveled him with a stare. “I’m not. I will not talk about them.”

Stiles swallowed, because if this man was willing to admit such a weakness, it much be a might big one.

Sully took a beat and then took another drink.

“I need to know your triggers,” Stiles said finally. “You can figure out what to do with your family issues. If you get caught then it is your deal. If you tell me your triggers I can make sure that you avoid as many of them as possible.”

Sully tilted his head and took a drink.

And kept drinking. When he put down the bottle it was half empty.

“Fire,” Sully said.

Stiles nodded. “Okay, no arson prevention.”

“Controlling bitchy two faced women,” Sully said.

“Well, unless you want to go to maximum lock up, I don’t know if I can help you avoid that one,” Stiles said, watching as Sully’s focused eyes got a little hazy, both from memories and the drink.

“Beacon Hills,” Sully said slurred softly.

Stiles sat on the bed and took an idle sip. “I’d never put you there.”

Sully looked at him. “You’re going back there one day.”

“I hope,” Stiles replied.

“I’m never going to go back,” Sully said, playing with the top of his bottle.

“Why not?” Stiles asked, unable to look away from Sully, Sully was staring at the wall like it held all the answers.

“Because I was happy then,” Sully said, his voice holding a softness that Stiles hadn’t ever heard. “Because I’ve forgotten how to do that, I can pretend it, but I can’t be it. I hold onto my anger because it is the only thing, it has kept me alive for twenty-one years. I hold onto my anger and it propels me forward, I don’t have anything else, not any more, the only thing left is anger.”

“You’re doing this for revenge,” Stiles whispered.

Sully looked over at him. “Yes. It’s the only thing left.”

“What happens when you get it?” Stiles asked.

Sully shrugged and drank more. “I will still be angry. It is what I am now, but you’re going to give me someone else to be and he won’t be angry. I’ll just be angry me with someone else’s story.”

“You’ve been sleeping for most of your life, how do you know what you are?” Stiles said, facing Sully’s stare. It was open and angry and tormented, secrets covered. “You have lived a lie for so long, how can you even define who you are?”

Sully stared into him and took another drink, he put it down and stood up. “Everybody who ever really knew me is dead or would kill me on sight. You probably know me better than anyone alive, except maybe Chris. Am I really a person worth it?”

Stiles thought for a moment, the flashes of this man, his gentleness with Allison, the snark, the way that he didn’t give under Stiles’s needling, the ability to ask for help. He was contrasts, he was flaws, he was impossible to pin down.

“Yes,” Stiles whispered.

Sully stepped forward. “You don’t even know my name.”

Stiles steadied himself as Sully came forward and leaned over him. “Then tell me.”

“It doesn’t matter, not any more,” Sully said, his breath ghosting over Stiles’s lips.

It was a taunt, it was an itch over his skin. Stiles knew the reason why not but he lifted his head up and pressed his lips against Sully’s.

For a second Sully stayed coiled and let Stiles gently kiss at his lips. Then with a crash Stiles was on his back, hands grasping at Sully’s hair as their mouths tore hungrily at each other.

It was anger and it was fire and it was so much pain. Stiles held Sully’s head in his hands, held on to the body, dug his fingers into Sully’s back, held on to the elusive man.

Shaking and trembling Sully pushed into Stiles, pushed back into Stiles’s hand. He encouraged as much contact as possible, putting an imprint into Stiles.

Stiles didn’t let go.

**

“The first person who said she loved me was using me,” Sully said, they were laying in bed, sweaty and half asleep. Sully lay behind Stiles, one hand possessively over his hip.

“The first person I loved never even gave me the time of day,” Stiles replied.

“I’m not someone that you can keep,” Sully said, slurring slightly.

Stiles took a deep breath. “I would never want to keep Michael Sullivan.”

There was a sigh. “He’s gone soon.”

Stiles leaned into the body behind him, hoping to etch himself there for future memories.

“I don’t have anything left, just anger.”

Stiles heard the words, but his stubbornness couldn’t believe it for a second.

**

Stiles avoided Scott for three days. Seeing as that was the longest he had gone since he was twelve and went to visit his grandmother on the lunar surface, it was quite a feat. Now they were two of five hundred permanent staff on a fairly small space station surrounded by the vacuum of space, it was proving to be quite a challenge.

Stiles spent most of his time in his darkened room creating a full background and future for Sully. He also spent a lot of time in his bed with Sully, or against the wall, or one memorable time in the shower.

When they weren’t fucking they were usually fighting. Stiles found that it was the most amazing way to get information. Sully was one who would let his true colors show when pushed. Or he would throw Stiles against the wall and remove clothing forcefully.

Stiles was equally pleased by both options.

Stiles also managed to find out information about the Hale fire.

Stiles thought that he had the pieces, thought he knew how the puzzle was fitting together. Things all seemed to fit.

Then they didn’t.

Stiles was looking at the photograph that he had unearthed from the old newspaper from The Beacon.

Then he finally got the police reports.

Stiles reached up and pressed the com on the wall.

“I feel like flying,” Stiles said when it connected.

“Who are you again?” Scott said, sounding tired.

Stiles looked at the clock, it was barely four hours after Scott got off shift. He probably had barely been asleep.

“Shut it, I have news, be ready now,” Stiles said.

Stiles got out of bed. He knew Scott would be there, because Scott was always there.

**

“What—“

Stiles held up his hand. “We’re flying.”

“It’s the middle of the night, it is the hours of the night that people don’t know exist,” Scott whined, banging his feet on the console. “Why are we flying?”

Stiles waited for the airlock to close and then he engaged the engines.

“Remember when we used to sneak out at night?” Stiles asked, flicking over buttons.

“We used to ride our bikes and go to that field and run around like crazy people,” Scott said. “That is why I am up?”

“No you’re up because I have two secrets,” Stiles said. “And this is the only place that I know that we’re not going to be overheard.”

Scott perked up.

“I am sleeping with Sully and I found out about the Hale fire,” Stiles said. “You can have all the information that you want on one of them, but the other we never talk about. Your choice which is which.”

Scott’s face turned a little white. “I think I know all I want to know about the first one, does Allison know?”

Stiles just gave him a look.

“Right,” Scott said. “I choose option B. What did you find out?”

Stiles pulled them in into an orbit of the space station.

“The Hale fire was a huge inferno at Christmas,” Stiles said, leaning over to pull up files on the com. “The entire family was killed. The fire was declared to be arson, then changed to be faulty wiring. The arson investigation was begun, but never finished. The notes that I found –“

“How?” Scott interrupted.

“Do you want me to bore you with intricate and boring details?” Stiles asked tiredly. “This story is going to be long enough without it.”

“Go on,” Scott nodded.

“The fire was started in the house, the investigator made a pretty good case that the person knew the house, knew the family,” Stiles said pointing at the details.

Scott looked at Stiles. “It was an inside job?”

“Two bodies were never found,” Stiles said, staring at the report. “Laura and Derek Hale, Talia’s two oldest children.”

“Laura?” Scott asked. “Like the Laura that Chris was talking about?”

“They disappeared after the fire, there was absolutely no trace of either,” Stiles continued, glaring at Scott. “The general assumption is that Laura would become the Alpha after Talia, Derek would be after Laura if she didn’t have Were kids.”

“That would make sense with what we saw in the room with Chris,” Scott said excitedly. “Did they set the fire?”

“Your dad burned his hands trying to save the family from the fire,” Stiles went on, ignoring Scott’s questions. “He could see them screaming, but he couldn’t save them. There is no reason why he was at the Hale house, no connection, there is an inference that he was out jogging ten miles away from the main road at night, but nothing was ever clearly stated. I actually couldn’t find a reason that your dad was in Beacon Hills at all. He showed up one year before the Hale fire. He was in the hospital after, smoke inhalation and burns, that is where he met your mother. He left seven years later when you were five.”

Scott was quiet.

“My dad was missing a few weeks after the fire, and for the life of me I can’t find any kind of records on my dad at all before he came to Beacon Hills, and Chris Argent was seen at the fire, but there is no report of Chris in Beacon Hills after that day, or anything but random footnotes of him being there ever. My dad returned soon after and joined the police,” Stiles said quietly. “There is never a mention of an Argent in town after that day. On that day Gerard Argent began to make his move. I have a million pieces of information from so many different sources, but I think that Argent had something to do with the fire, I think our dads and Allison’s had something to do with stopping it and with Derek and Laura Hale.”

Scott’s eyes were wide. “Sully is Derek freaking Hale? He’s the Alpha Hale?”

Stiles leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “Nice story isn’t it?”

“It all makes sense now,” Scott said and then his face scrunched up. “Derek is Allison’s uncle? That is so wrong. Uncle bad touch.”

Stiles rolled his head to look at Scott. “I’m the one having sex with him, not Allison.”

“We’re not talking about that,” Scott said.

Stiles shrugged and sat up and flicked a few buttons on the screen. “Its just a story, something I made up because those are the Hales.”

Scott looked at a picture of the Hale family. Talia and her husband Henry looked regal as always, the perfect proud leaders of the Weres. In front of them were their three children.

Scott leaned forward and squinted. “That’s Laura? She doesn’t look anything like Allison.”

Stiles motioned towards the picture. “And that is Derek, he doesn’t look a thing like Sully. I’ve tried aging them with a few parameters, but nothing works. They don’t look anything like Sully or Allison.”

“Plastic surgery?” Scott said weakly looking

Stiles shook his head. “Their entire bone structure is different.”

Scott leaned back looking at the picture. “But the story fits.”

“But the fingerprints don’t,” Stiles said, pulling those up. “Sully’s prints and Derek Hale’s are different, so unless there is a huge conspiracy, which I don’t think a seventeen year old and a nineteen year old could orchestrate, even newly Alpha Laura Hale.”

“And this Deucalion?” Scott asked.

“Former right hand of Talia Hale,” Stiles said. “In the last two decades he’s turned into an extremist for werewolf rights. On most planets he’s considered a terrorist.”

Scott sat back dejected. “It fits.”

“But the theory is wrong,” Stiles said. “I can’t prove it. I can only prove it wrong.”

Stiles brought up a mug shot of young Derek Hale. “He’s not Sully. Everything fits but the proof.”

Scott groaned. “So you brought me up here to tell me that nothing makes sense?”

“I brought you here because our fathers and Chris and the Hales all are intertwined,” Stiles said. “Or they were for a year. After that year Allison was born and then we were born and all Weres everywhere were targeted. Even their children who aren’t Weres, who are just Carriers have to be registered and they are biased against. In our tiny little town the world changed and I don’t know what happened and it is driving me insane and I think I wanted Sully to be Derek Hale because I finished his profile and he’s going to leave tomorrow and I know him, but I don’t know who he is.”

“You like him,” Scott said quietly.

“I like him,” Stiles said. “Its stupid and ridiculous and I don’t want him to go.”

“While he’s still a mystery?” Scott asked.

“Before he buries himself into something that isn’t him,” Stiles said. “Before he turns into someone else.”

Scott leaned back and looked slightly appalled. “Dude. He’s rude and off-putting.”

“Off-putting,” Stiles said. “Who says that?”

“Your grandmother,” Scott said.

“Rude and also correct,” Stiles sighed. “So what do we do?”

“Give him the new identity and begin the great Stiles whoring again,” Scott said. “This is what happens on space stations. People in and out.”

“Stiles, where are you?”

Stiles jumped as the com came alive, Chris’s voice echoing through the cockpit.

“I’m off station,” Stiles said. “Couldn’t sleep, taking a jaunt with Scott.”

There was sound of blaster fire.

“Chris, what is going on?” Stiles said.

There was the sound of Allison screaming and the roar or werewolves. Scott went pale.

Chris’s voice was tight and in far too much control to actually be in control. “Can you get to the B-16 waste disposal portal?”

Stiles looked down at the ship. “In less than a minute.”

There was a sound of movement. “Get there faster. Go through the upper duct, bring two ropes, one with harness. If you have a med unit, get it ready.”

Stiles began to change the course, he looked over at Scott who was still motionless.

“Move,” Stiles said. “Now.”

Stiles moved, charged with purpose and adrenaline. He moved the ship and docked at the shaft that Chris had said to be at. Then he opened the com to Chris.

“Docking,” Stiles said, flipping the switches to hover.

“Send Scott in, we need him to pull Allison out,” Chris said.

Stiles turned on the ship com. “Scott, you’re on recon. Get them out of there.”

Stiles got up and put the earpiece in, he rand down to the med bay. “Give me a list of supplies that I will need.”

Chris was breathless. “Anything to stop bleeding, we’re going to need sutures and gauze. Where the hell is Scott.”

“Here, I’m almost at the vent,” Scott said.

There was a lot of swearing, Sully’s and Scott’s.

Stiles went to the hatch, all he could see was the darkened tunnel. Finally he could hear scuffling and Scott came into view. There was the echoing of blasters in the vent. Stiles reached out and pulled Scott into the ship. Scott was pulling Allison out. She was covered in sludge and blood.

Stiles could see her ribs from one of five scratches along her side. Stiles nearly threw up.

Chris was the next through and then Sully.

“You two, up to the cockpit,” Chris said, looking at the mess of his daughter. “I’ve got this. Scott you had animal training, you’re helping.”

Scott’s face was white, but he wordlessly moved to help Scott. Sully reached out and hauled a retching Stiles to the cockpit.

Sully manhandled him into the nav seat.

“You’re flying my baby?” Stiles said, finally coming back to the present.

“I fly, you nav,” Sully said. “I’m really good at evading, I think that you are probably really good at figuring out how to give us an absolutely insane jump pattern that will get us away with out Deucalion following us.”

“That was Deucalion?” Stiles asked. “How did he find you?”

Sully didn’t say anything.

“I’m assuming Chris,” Stiles said. “Whatever past you had with Chris, I’m sure that he found you through him.”

“Not likely,” Sully said. “The only reason you found him was because your father knew where to look, same with me. Chris is impossible to find if you don’t know what to look for.”

“Just like you apparently,” Stiles said.

“I need you to nav one of the most elusive courses ever so nobody can find us, probably a confusing link of double backs,” Sully said. “This can wait.”

“I have enough brain power for both,” Stiles said, fingers flying.

“Doubtful,” Sully sighed and started the ship on a radical course of elusiveness.

Stiles paused before going back to staring at star maps and imputing things into the nav.

“Did Deucalion know about my dad, that he knew Chris?” Stiles asked.

The ship jerked and a vein began jumping in Sully’s jaw.

Stiles made a final swipe and then pushed back from the star maps. “So he followed us and then had someone watching until you showed up?”

Sully accepted the navigation and punched the button. The shuttle began to shudder and Stiles closed his eyes as he felt the familiar pull of the jump. He had calculated the path. There was going to be twenty-three jumps in the next hour.

Stiles stood up. “That sucks that we lead them there, but someone watching us for twenty years has it out for you, just waiting for a random piece of luck, like Scott being bit.”

Sully rubbed a hand over his face, Stiles stared back at him, as the pieces began to fit into place. Stiles stared at Sully, eyes wide, begging him not to be thinking the same thing.

Derek said slowly. “It probably wasn’t an accident, Scott being bit. It seems like something Duke would orchestrate - it was a means to get to Chris to wait for me.”

Stiles’s fist balled up and he took a few deep breaths and got up to walk out of the room. He stopped and then calmly looked at Sully.

Stiles looked at him. “For someone who has nothing left, a lot of people still seem to be connected to you.”

Sully shrugged off the comment and followed Stiles back to the room that Chris was working on Allison. Scott was by here head, brushing back her hair. She looked pale and her breathing was rough.

“How is she?” Stiles asked.

“She’s tough,” Chris said with watery eyes. “I stopped the bleeding and she pulled through, but she’s lost a lot of blood. We don’t have any synth on board.”

Scott held onto her hand. “What is her blood type, maybe one of ours can help.”

Stiles was typing on his tablet. “She’s AB, you’re AB Chris.”

Chris rubbed a hand over his face. “She’s ABL, I’ve kept that out of the records, she doesn’t even know.”

Everyone but Sully paused and looked at Chris.

“She’s a Carrier?” Stiles asked, looking at the prone figure of Allison and then at Chris. “She isn’t a wolf, so she’s a Carrier, but that would mean that her mother is a wolf.”

Chris looked up at him. “Not the time Stiles.”

Stiles brain seemed to be spinning, filling in the missing pieces.

Sully didn’t hesitate though. He moved to the drawers, searching for something. He pulled out plastic tubing and a needle. He grabbed a rubber strip and tied it around his arm. Chris got up immediately and took one of the needles that Sully held. Chris went to Allison’s arm and looked for a vein. Stiles and Scott just watched as Chris slid the needle into Allison’s arm and grabbed for the tube. Sully held one end of the rubber strip with his teeth, Stiles watched with a gaping mouth as Sully slid the needle into his arm and quickly the tube filled with blood.

Sully’s back stayed to them.

Stiles looked steadily at him and spoke calmly. “Are you sure? Carriers don’t react well to blood from strangers, in fact only immediate family members can give blood or else the antibodies will kill the person.”

“Yes,” Sully barked out. “I am absolutely sure if she’s a Carrier then my blood will match.”

Stiles stared at him and Sully leaned down, head on Allison’s shoulder.

“I’m going to go and do things,” Stiles said waving his hand. Sully was hunched over Alison and Chris and Scott were rapt on her. Stiles slipped out.

**

Sully went up to the cockpit, he was a little pale and woozy but that would pass.

Stiles was hunched over the nav screen and didn’t look up at him.

“How’s she doing?” Stiles said, finally turning around. “Derek.”

Stiles didn’t have time to blink before a hand was around his neck and he was rudely thrown against a wall.

“Tell me what you think you know,” Sully growled.

Stiles lifted a hand and clicked the screen on, showing mug shot of a young boy with a great smile and dark hair. He held similar resemblance to the man before him, but they were clearly two different people.

“That isn’t me,” Derek growled his hand relaxing.

“No,” Stiles wheezed. “But that isn’t Derek Hale.”

He clicked to another picture where the young boy on the screen appeared with a family. Sully released Stiles and looked at the screen, blinking repeatedly.

“Must suck to see a picture of your family with someone else in it,” Stiles gasped.

Sully, Derek Hale swallowed. “How did you know?”

“It wasn’t easy. I couldn’t be sure that Derek Hale had even met Chris Argent. Twenty-one years ago Chris Argent got arrested with a seventeen year old,” Stiles said, eyeing Derek and not moving from the wall.

Derek turned around and raised an eyebrow.

“That is scandalous, although it was weapons charges and not indecency,” Stiles said, flipping to the mug shots of Chris Argent and the young boy from the previous screen. “It isn’t anything, not really.”

Stiles flicked the images again, back to the Hale family, but this time he focused on the sister. “Laura Hale, but not Laura Hale.”

Stiles pulled up ‘Laura Hale’ and then slowly her face began to morph.

“If you change the image twenty-one point nine percent, you get this,” Stiles said.

The image changed to show a young girl with dark hair and dimples.

Derek swallowed.

“She looks a lot like Allison,” Stiles said softly.

Derek nodded imperceptivity.

“There is a rumor on the Blacknet of a program, a virus, the cost is astronomical, but it is said to be able to run in all computers,” Stiles said with precision. “It uses facial recognition software and in instances that people pull up files on all connected computers it offsets the facial image, makes it so that it is someone else. Every database has the adjusted image the second that it is called up. It is a masking program that is the ultimate and only way truly to hide.”

Derek was staring at the ground.

“You know the Hale fortune was never recovered,” Stiles said off handedly.

Derek didn’t twitch a muscle.

Stiles flicked back to the other ‘Derek Hale’ and then pressed the button again.

“Twenty-one point nine percent different from him is, well you,” Stiles said.

Derek watched as a younger version of himself appeared on screen.

“You were seventeen when your family burned,” Stiles said softly. “Somehow you were able to be rewritten every image that exists of you is offset the same amount, it’s pretty sophisticated. You also became a seventeen-year-old CryoJumper, a pilot with your sister for twenty years. Even more impressive.”

Derek didn’t say anything.

“I only ask that you only tell me things that are real,” Stiles said. “Have anything for me?”

Derek didn’t look away from the updated image of the Hales. “You haven’t figured that out yet?”

“I’ve had twenty minutes,” Stiles said. “I had to wait for the program to come up with the right rate of offset.”

“You’ve found it,” Derek said turning to Stiles, composed again.

“Derek Hale ran away from Beacon Hills,” Stiles said. “The Hales were renowned for the fight for werewolf rights for generations. Beacon Hills was the seat for the occurrences, Talia Hale was the Tribunal. I’m assuming that they thought burning the Hale family would shake the foundation of Werewolf Rights.”

Derek looked at him, his face blank stone.

“They were right,” Stiles said softly. “The laws on Weres have been chipped away at for the last twenty years. Hate crimes are up and even Carriers are next, Carriers like we just learned Allison is.”

Derek’s jaw clenched and a vein in it jumped.

“Someone hid you so that you wouldn’t talk,” Stiles said, it was as best a guess, a leap, much like the rest of his speech.

“No,” Derek said.

“Laura hid you,” Stiles tried again. “To save you from whatever happened.”

“Yes,” Derek answered, face flinching at her name.

“It must have cost you everything to have your faces altered,” Stiles said.

“Yes,” Derek answered.

“And for them to ignore your bio age,” Stiles said.

“No, that wasn’t money,” Derek replied.

“How did that happen?” Stiles asked.

“That isn’t my story,” Derek said.

Stiles tilted his head.

“You know who killed your family,” Stiles said.

“Yes,” Derek replied.

“You’re going back to finish it,” Stiles said, his eyes going wide. He didn’t need a confirmation of that. “Why didn’t you do it before?”

Derek’s face was pained.

“Don’t open your mouth if you’re going to lie to me,” Stiles whispered. “Don’t you dare tell me that you were seventeen. Laura was nineteen and an Alpha. Was it because she was pregnant, is that why you guys didn’t get revenge?”

Derek’s eyes glared at him. “Laura has never been pregnant.”

Stiles was confused. “Then how does Allison have your blood? How does she look like your sister if she isn’t the illegitimate love child of Chris of the Argent Hate Brigade and Laura Hale, the Alphaest Alpha?”

Derek didn’t say anything.

Stiles’s brow wrinkled. “I thought revenge was a sacred thing. I thought that there was nothing more important to wolves than pack. Why would you be going back, why didn’t she before if she wasn’t pregnant?”

Derek’s eyes looked lost. “I asked her not to.”

Stiles was even more confused.

Something in Derek’s posture changed and he looked like he was giving up the fight

“I asked Laura not to kill the person who set the fire,” Derek said quietly.

“What is more important than pack?” Stiles asked.

“Family,” Derek said.

“Someone in your family killed your pack?” Stiles tried to figure out, but that felt wrong on his tongue.

Derek shook his head. “No, but the killer was pregnant with my kid.”

Stiles thought about that for a moment and then his jaw dropped

Derek waited for a response.

Stiles’s forehead scrunched up and then his eyes glazed over and looked at the com. His eyes had a far away look. Then something snapped and he was lucid and Derek could almost see the thoughts flying through his head.

“That’s the only thing that makes sense,” Stiles told him.

Derek was a little taken aback. “I know?”

“No,” Stiles said, going to his tablet. “You don’t understand, it makes sense now. I get it now.”

Derek wasn’t even sure if Stiles was still talking to him any more. It seemed like Stiles had gone straight from trying to figure it out to planning something.

“What are you going to do with this information?” Derek asked, not really wanting an answer to that.

“If you could, would you want it back?” Stiles asked, eyes snapping to him.

Derek was taken aback. “You have a secret time machine?”

Stiles shook his head slowly. “No, your family is gone, but would you restore their reputation, their work, your name, your face in the family photos?”

Derek looked confused. “What are you thinking of doing?”

Stiles’s eyes were tracking some thought in his head. “We have to refuel the solar cells. Let’s pull up to the Parth system and let me figure something out. It might work, it might not, but give me a couple of hours to figure it out.”

Derek nodded slowly and moved to the pilot’s seat. Stiles went over to the computer and began to move his fingers rapidly. Derek focused on bringing the ship to rest.

**

Stiles stood up. Derek looked up from his screen. Stiles came over and shoved himself into Derek’s space, bringing up two photos.

On the right was Derek, or something with Derek’s face, smiling as if the sun was inside of him. One the left was the current scruffy brooding Derek.

“On the right is Tyler Hoechiln, only child. He grew up planetside in California, played in a skyball league in Arizona, blew out his knee and decided to be a lunar shuttle pilot. He has never been in far space, never been beyond the home galaxy, likes the outdoors.”

Derek looked at the factoids about Tyler Hoechiln, they seemed to be mostly mundane and boring.

“On the left is Derek Hale, complicated, infuriating, and hot enough to burn steel.”

Derek gave Stiles a look. “And I suppose that Tyler Hoechiln doesn’t look just like Derek Hale?”

“Tyler Hoechiln is a ray of sunshine and sweet, Derek Hale’s life is pain and drama. Sunshine is not as hot as the tortured type,” Stiles said, moving back to give Derek room.

“I think you just explained your problem with your dating life,” Derek muttered.

“You can be either,” Stiles said. “If you tap the picture on the right your new identity will be put in effect. If you tap the one of the left we will undo everything that has been changed, you will have your life back.”

“I’ve worked really hard not to be in the public view,” Derek muttered.

“You’ve not done the greatest job of it,” Stiles replied.

“You didn’t even know that this kind of tech existed before two hours ago,” Derek said. “Now you have the ability to unwrite it?”

“It’s a theoretical prototype,” Stiles said. “Give me a few hours and some digging, maybe some information from you and Chris who implemented it and I can do it.”

Derek took a deep breath.

“Just hear me out,” Stiles said with a grin.

Derek looked at the two men wearing his face. “What is the plan for the two of them?”

Stiles cocked his head. “Tyler Hoechiln will always be a lie behind his smile. He will do nothing but lie to everyone his entire life. He will brutally murder Derek Hale’s ex girlfriend and her elderly father, I’m assuming, but return and lie to everyone his entire life. He will lead a perfectly normal unassuming life in a very bland place.”

“And Derek Hale?” Derek asked.

Stiles grinned. “Derek Hale is going to tell every secret that he has ever had. He’s going to rip open the glare and show the world how it really is.”

Derek’s forehead was creased. “Every secret?”

Stiles nodded. “Every single one.”

Derek grimaced and his finger hovered over Tyler Hoechiln.

“He will tell his secrets, I have a way to get it validated and into record before anyone can get to him. I have a way to keep him safe. He will not assassinate one of the Empire’s leaders, he will bring his family to justice and stand at the head of the Were movement and be the legacy that they left, he will be what everyone needs.”

Derek looked over at him. “I don’t think that I can do that.”

Stiles smiled and flicked a picture of Laura up there. “I don’t know her, but reading her file I feel like I do. What do you think that she would say?”

“Low blow,” Derek muttered.

Stiles flipped the images. “Is this what you’re more worried about?”

Allison’s smiling face was on the screen.

Derek closed his eyes.

“You said you have nothing left,” Stiles said quietly, placing the cylinder that Chris had given him on the desk. “Chris wanted me to dupe your identity. I think he wanted to make sure that someone could find you. You may not have anything but your anger, but I’m pretty sure he thought that something would want you.”

Derek’s hands balled into fists.

“Why would you do this?” Derek asked, a little reserved.

Stiles sat in the nav chair and looked at him.

“Honesty,” Derek said.

“I want to go home,” Stiles said in a small voice. “It’s been a year, and I know that is nothing, but I miss my dad, I miss Scott’s mom, I miss my boring hometown and I want to be able to go home.”

“Why don’t you?” Derek asked.

“Scott,” Stiles said softly. “He’s an Omega. During his last full moon he nearly killed his mother. We had to leave because all of the Alphas in the area for Beacon Hills are on the take. They’re horrible. I want to go to Beacon Hills, but I promised that I would be with Scott.”

Derek paused. “You want me to be his Alpha. He hates me.”

“If you’re the Alpha of Beacon Hills he’s make a try,” Stiles said. “And I’m sure that he would want to impress Allison’s bio dad.”

Derek gave him an incredulous look.

“Besides this is fun,” Stiles said with a shrug. “I like the intrigue and I really really liked the sex. I’m sure that if I see Tyler Hoechiln that he wouldn’t be half as much fun. Also Tyler Hoechiln lives in Texas and doesn’t like guys, so this whole thing is really in my best interest because Derek Hale lives in Beacon Hills and seems to like me.”

The edge of Derek’s mouth quirked and then it fell.

Stiles nodded and reached out tentatively, like he expected Derek to bite off his fingers at any given moment. Stiles rested his fingers on Derek’s forearm.

“I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through,” Stiles said.

“We don’t do this,” Derek said, looking at Stiles’s hand.

Stiles fidgeted, but he didn’t move his hand. “Sully and I don’t for sure. Tyler would probably have a really nice let down. Sully is all built out of anger and Tyler is built all out of sunshine. But Derek he’s something more than just the extremes, I’ve seen pieces of Derek and I like him. Derek Hale has the potential to be great, to make my friend’s life and many other lives less paranoid that someone is going to kill them or legally throw them into pens, to make sure that his daughter isn’t targeted. Derek Hale can be great and I want to be there for it. I want to help. I want to see Derek Hale take the Alpha Hale banner and let it fly.”

Derek looked up and then shook off Stiles’s fingers.

“Stiles,” Derek said softly.

“Nope,” Stiles said standing up. “I don’t need you to tell me. So it’s Tyler then?”

Derek looked at the screen.

“You could do it?” Derek asked.

“So it’s just me then,” Stiles muttered. Derek looked up at him and Stiles pasted on a wide smile and a voice as flat and uninterested as talking about the weather. “Yeah, if you want Derek Hale back, I can probably pull together something. A nice Stiles-less life for you to go save the world in.”

Derek’s face fell a little.

“Go, the cells are almost done charging,” Stiles said, not looking at Derek. “You’ll probably want to check in with Chris and Allison before you decide. I’ve got some things to finesse.”

Derek looked at Stiles for a moment, Stiles hunched over a computer screen. His pale face was illuminated by the light and he was biting at his fingers. Derek paused and then walked out of the room.

**

Stiles came down to the med bay. Scott was in the waiting area. He was watching the med room intently.

Allison was awake, looking pale. Chris sat by her head, his hand gently running through her hair. Derek sat in the med stool. His elbows on his knees, he was talking but his face was looking at the floor.

Stiles crossed his arms and glared daggers at Derek.

“What’s going on?” Scott asked. “I can’t hear a thing in there and my lip reading sucks.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Who knows what comes out of his mouth. Or who he wants to be.”

Scott raised his eyebrows and looked at Stiles.

There was movement in the room. Allison sat up and looked at Derek, her face was soft and in adoration. She reached out a hand and touched his face. Derek leaned into her and kissed her forehead. His eyes were closed in reverence.

Scott’s face broke a little. Stiles rubbed his back.

“I’m sure that it isn’t what it looks like,” Stiles said.

“Uncle Bad Touch,” Scott muttered.

Derek stood up and Chris shook his hand.

They walked out of the room.

“She wants to see you,” Chris said gruffly. “I have to go check on something.”

Scott nodded and walked heavily towards the room. He didn’t look at Derek as he exited the room.

Derek walked up to Stiles. “I was thinking.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Stiles said. “I have a plan set up. Chris will love it, you will love it, Weres of the world will love it, it will be well loved. Probably not by Kate and Gerard, but nothing is universal.”

He turned to go, but Derek’s hand reached for Stiles’s forearm. “Maybe I am not all anger, maybe Derek Hale could be that.”

Stiles looked at the hand on his arm and then up to Derek’s face. His face was blank and baffled.

“Seriously Stiles?” Derek asked. “You figured out the Argent’s involvement with my family and who I was. Then you started a whole plot of how to get back at them in seconds, but you’re not getting this?”

Stiles blinked. “It is a bit more to process when it is personal.”

Then he looked back at the room and nudged Derek.

Stiles nodded. “Yeah, can you lip read?”

“I’m taking it back,” Derek sighed.

“What is he saying,” Stiles said tugging at Derek’s arm.

With a sigh Derek looked into the room.

“Scott is giving her a big speech,” Derek turned to Stiles. “Do I really have to give it to you word for word?”

Stiles kept looking in the room and nodded. “You made me feel the utmost rejection for thirty-five minutes, you are forgiven, but after you tell me what they’re saying.”

Scott was in the seat that Derek had vacated, he was looking at Allison adoringly, but sadly. Allison was looking up at him with a small smile.

“I really care about you, Allison,” Derek said in a flat voice. “I have cared about you from the first moment I saw you, but I understand that you’re interested in¬¬— I’m going to go ask Deucalion to kill me, I can’t do this.”

“That last part was totally you wasn’t it?” Stiles asked.

“You’re so perceptive,” Derek intoned and then took a deep breath and looked in the room.

Allison had sat up and reached out and kissed Scott. She pulled away and spoke.

Something in what she said stunned Derek.

“What did she say?” Stiles asked.

Derek opened his mouth and then shut it. Then he tried it again. “She said, ‘I’m not interested in him, not like that. He’s my father’.”

There was a hitch to Derek’s voice at the word father.

Stiles grinned as he watched Scott’s gob smacked expression and Allison went to kiss him again.

“It’s going to be easier to get him into the whole plan now,” Derek said, clearing his throat.

“You told her,” Stiles said. “And she looks happy about it.”

Derek looked at Allison with a small smile.

“You don’t have to,” Stiles said. “You can have all of this without having me.”

“I didn’t propose marriage,” Derek said, looking at Stiles from the side of his eyes.

Stiles pressed his lips together. “But, you did suggest that we could date right?”

“So much regret already,” Derek muttered, looking at the ceiling.

“I can give you the great speech again,” Stiles suggested. “That one was a beaut.”

“Let’s go find Chris,” Derek said looking at him. “We have a story to tell.”

**

They all were packed into Allison’s little room. Scott and Allison awkwardly cuddling and Chris at the foot, looking at them like he wasn’t quite sure what to think about their pairing.

Stiles stood at the wall display and Derek leaned against the doorframe.

Stiles cleared his throat and pulled up the picture of the Hale family, the one with the Allison looking Laura and a Derek Hale that looked like a younger version of the man in front of them. “So the plan is to make Derek Hale,” Stiles motioned to Derek leaning against the wall, “Derek Hale again. I can create a worm to unworm the changes made. Chris can pass along the information to his super secret contact in the Cryo world and Derek Hale’s name will be echoed through in the place of Jumper 43XJ3, his nav partner will be identified as Laura Hale.”

“Still not sure that having my exploits under my own name is the best idea,” Derek muttered.

“You need a reputation,” Stiles said. “I’ve seen the file. It’s intimidating, slightly crossing the line occasionally, but it is a reputation that a Were leader should have.”

Derek looked up at the ceiling. “Still not sure about being a Were leader.”

Stiles flicked the screen and Talia Hale stood in a crowd of her adoring public at a moonlight ceremony.

Derek looked over and closed his eyes. “You are an evil manipulative bastard.”

“Also Derek and I are dating,” Stiles added.

Scott made a face and Allison gave him the thumbs up, before her face fell.

“Are you going to be my step-father?” Allison asked. “Because I just doubled the amount of fathers that I have and I’m not quite sure I can deal with more at the moment.”

“Just dating,” Derek said, glaring at Stiles. “Maybe not. We’re in negotiations.”

“He’s negotiating,” Stiles said with a little smile. “He just doesn’t realize that I am inevitable.”

Chris ran a hand over his face. “Your father is going to kill me. He sends me you and I bring you home with him and people that want to kill us all at our heels.”

Derek rolled his head to look at Chris and glared.

“And more important things,” Stiles said. “What happened? You’ve got stories you need to tell.”

Chris let out a long breath. “What do you need to know?”

“Why did you come to Beacon Hills?” Stiles asked.

Chris looked at Derek for a minute. Derek cocked his head.

“I found out that my father had sent Kate to infiltrate the Hale family by any means necessary in order to eliminate the family,” Chris said softly, his hand going to squeeze Allison’s feet.

“Did you know?” Allison asked in a small voice.

“No,” Chris barked. “I wasn’t part of that. My mother and Talia worked together, they thought that wrong should be punished and right should be allowed to live, they worked together to see that through. My mother and I saw eye to eye, but she died and that balance was put in my father’s hands and Kate was his go to. I was blocked out.”

“You were one of the good guys,” Allison said with a little bit of hero worship.

“That is debatable by many,” Chris said, looking at Derek. “My father and my wife were hard and cruel and what they were doing was against the code that my mother had taught me. I had made inroads with an underground Were movement. I went with one of their guards and a government man to Beacon Hills. We showed up separately to try to uncover what the plot was. There were a few that we uncovered, there was one we didn’t see coming.”

Derek closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. “Me. You didn’t know that she had targeted me until it was too late.”

Stiles looked over at Allison, her eyes were wide.

“You were seventeen?” Allison asked quietly.

Derek hesitated and then spoke. “It started a few days before my sixteenth birthday.”

“She was twenty-five,” Chris said.

“I’m sorry,” Allison said, tears falling.

Derek’s face echoed her sadness, but he tried to smile. “I’m not completely sorry and I’m sure your dad isn’t either.”

Stiles cleared his throat. “Who were the guard and the government man?”

Chris looked at him startled, but said nothing. Derek refused to meet anyone’s eyes.

“Our dads,” Scott said in the awkward silence. “My dad was the government man and Stiles’s dad was the guard, right?”

Stiles looked at him incredulously.

“It makes sense,” Scott said thoughtfully.

“It certainly does not,” Stiles said certainly, the look of sureness dying on his face when he looked at Chris who looked very uncomfortable.

“My dad was in some kind of shady Were movement?” Stiles asked, a little shocked.

“He was a hired hand,” Chris finally said. “They paid him to come and quietly make sure that Rafeal and I were taken care of when we got ourselves in trouble.”

“My dad?” Stiles said for clarification.

Chris nodded. “He was kind of our protector. He had a way with people. He also had a wicked right hook.”

“My dad?” Stiles asked again.

Chris nodded. “He’s a good man.”

“And my dad?” Scott asked, a little hesitant.

Chris looked thoughtful. “Your dad is a little bit of a different story.”

Scott and Stiles exchanged a look of confirmation of what they had always known about their fathers.

“We were really good at what we did, we were the only ones who could do what we did,” Chris continued. “The three of us were sent to ensure the safety of the Hales. For a year we were able to subvert the attempts by Kate and her men, but we couldn’t fathom the lengths that she would go to, we had no idea about Derek. Kate and my father kept everything very close.”

Stiles swallowed and reached out slowly and squeezed Derek’s bicep. Almost imperceptivity Derek leaned into the touch.

“We got arrested a couple of times, but Stiles, your dad became close to the cops,” Chris said with a small smile. “We never stayed locked up very long.”

“See now I know you are lying,” Stiles said. “My dad is all about letting people rot with their choices. He arrested us himself when he caught us attempting to graffiti a wall.”

“Allegedly,” Scott added.

Chris shot them the dad look that meant ‘you probably deserved that.’

Stiles pouted a little.

“We found out about Derek in October,” Chris said. “We convinced him to play double agent, we didn’t know the lengths that Kate would go to.”

Chris looked over at Derek. “None of us knew about the plan for the fire.”

“Laura and I were meeting Rafeal,” Derek said quietly. “We were supposed to be at home, I told Kate I was going to be, but we were sneaking out to meet him. One of her guys was preparing to start a smear campaign on my father. We were going to go see what we could do. That is the only reason we weren’t in the house that night. We saw the fire and tried to get back there in time.”

The air was heavy. The moment in time that had been so monumental to every Were in the universe was particularly poignant and personal with the people in this room.

Stiles cleared his throat. “What happened next? How did the big escape and cover up happen?”

Derek looked at Chris. Chris took a deep breath. “Your father is going to kill me.”

“There is more?” Stiles squeaked.

Chris looked very uncomfortable.

“Your dad,” Derek said. “Your dad is very well connected with certain people, he was, well he was a CryoJumper before he came to Beacon Hills. He was pretty high up. He is the one who took us away, who pulled every favor that he ever had, who knew people in shadowy corners to give money to so we could disappear.”

Stiles blinked rapidly. “My dad? A CryoJumper?”

Scott started laughing. “You’re dating a guy just like your dad.”

Chris gave that a thought and then shook his head. “He had been out there for the max time. In his in-between times he was one of the leaders of the program.”

“Until this moment my dad was just so dad-like,” Stiles said “Are you sure that we’re talking about the same man? Do you think that maybe that you were duped into taking in some stranger’s son?”

Chris gave a little half smile. “I’m sure that your dad finds you far too much like himself. I know I do.”

Stiles made a face. “My father? Seriously?”

“Your dad had a life before you existed. I don’t know what he is like today, but the man I knew had a spine of steel,” Chris said, eyes glinting in approval

“Oh I he’s still like that,” Stiles said. “You should see how he pushed me in homework and chores, he just never struck me as a CryoJumper.”

“He covered his scar and was happy to have a normal life,” Chris said. “I think that he had lived for so long with traveling that he wanted to find a home. It didn’t hurt that Claudia was absolutely captivating, but he’s still that guy to some extent. He was the one who set up Allison and I in the first place we lived. Found friends when we needed to move on.”

“And he broke ever Cryo rule known to man? For Derek and Laura?” Stiles asked.

“That is why I liked your dad,” Chris said. “He lived by his own rules, but they were all based on this unshakable sense of right and wrong.”

“This makes so much sense,” Scott said to Stiles with a grin. “That is totally where you get it from.”

Stiles smiled a little. “So my dad took you guys away and set up things so that you were okay?”

“He took us to a tiny village on another planet to keep us safe, we stayed there while we figured out what to do with the chaos,” Chris said. “I’m not quite sure how Derek kept Laura from ripping Kate to shreds. None of us really had an urge to stand in her way, even if she weren’t terrifying with her new Alpha.”

“Begging,” Derek said. “And many scrapes, bruises, and broken ribs.”

There was a pause and he looked at Allison.

“Never for Kate, but for my kid,” Derek said softly.

“Did you ever see me?” Allison said. “Or did you leave before I was born?”

Derek swallowed.

Chris was the one to speak. “He was there when you were born. When Kate had you she never even laid eyes on you. Derek whisked you away and he and Laura didn’t let you go until it was time for them to leave.”

Allison looked at Derek softly.

“I held you,” Derek said quietly. “You were minutes old the first time, but I held you until Laura had put enough fear into Chris to take care of you and never let you near any other family member. Then I put you in your father’s arms. That is all I got, just a couple of days.”

Allison had tears falling down her face, but she gave Derek a warm smile. He shifted, looking uncomfortable with the attention.

“Your sister was the scariest woman,” Chris said. “Quite a woman.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “She was.”

Chris’s voice came out a little mangled. “That was the first thought I had when Deucalion started firing. I had this mind numbing fear that Laura Hale was going to badly kill me if anything happened to you. Didn’t matter that I knew she was dead, I was sure she was going to find a way.”

Allison dimpled. “I think she’d be okay with you raising me like you did.”

“You were raised like a hunter,” Scott teased. “I’m not totally sure Alpha Laura would have appreciated that.”

Allison smiled and snuggled into him. “Well I don’t have fangs, I hope that she would appreciate me doing what I can with what I have.”

“She would have,” Derek muttered, looking at the ground.

“What happened to her?” Stiles asked.

Everyone looked at Derek. Derek stayed with his eyes on the ground as he began speaking.

“My uncle, he had been out back smoking when the fire hit,” Derek said. “He ran in and tried to save his kids, the rest of our family. He was burned and there was what I think was PTSD. We didn’t know that. We put him in a rehab and we started Jumping. We’d check in on him from time to time, but we weren’t there when he came out of his comatosis.”

Derek paused, thinking for the next.

“They found his nurse murdered,” Chris said. “He escaped. Stiles, your dad would feed us important news. He told us that Peter killed seven people before escaping. He used the bond to the Hale Alpha to find Laura.”

“He killed her,” Derek said in a long breath. “We were on the moon of Solaris 12. He cut her in half. I wasn’t there. It took me months to find him and I ripped his throat out.’

It was cold and aloof. Scott, Stiles and Allison stared at him, not quite sure what the proper reaction to this statement was.

“Good,” Chris said clearly. “Even before he went crazy he was a manipulative bastard. We were never sure which side he was on. I think he always had his eye on Talia’s Alpha. He was ambitious. I knew it well enough, I saw it in my own sister.”

Derek shook his head slowly, as if to clear it. “He was only a few years older than me, mom’s half brother from grandpa’s second wife. Kate should have chosen him. He would have been the perfect ally.”

Chris looked at him for a minute, calculating, appraising, those blue eyes seemingly seeing what was below the surface.

“She could have had someone to rule with her,” Chris said. “Instead she chose someone with heart and soul.”

Derek’s eyebrows lowered and his forehead creased. “Are you complimenting me?”

Chris shook off the question and stood up. “I spent a lot of time growing up with my mom, meeting with many delegations. I met you, I’m sure you don’t remember, you were barely walking, but she loved you, she loved her family, she loved being a wolf. She could shift and she did it for us one night. You laughed and grabbed onto her with your chubby hands. When I met you years later, you were a moody teenager, but you were still your mother’s son.”

Derek was standing there, biting his lip, his eyes turning liquid. He didn’t move a muscle.

Chris continued speaking evenly. “When we approached you, you fought like hell for our side. You played double agent although it sickened you and you stood up to your Alpha for your unborn child. You are everything that a leader should be.”

Derek shook his head. “I’m not that kid any more.”

Chris smiled. “No, but you still are Derek Hale. You will always be your mother’s son.”

Derek blinked rapidly before rubbing his hands over his face.

“And you have us,” Stiles said.

Derek looked at the room. Allison looked ashened and bandaged, but she looked determined. Scott looked resigned. Chris looked determined.

When Derek turned to look at Stiles he saw a little impetuous glimmer of hope.

“You want me to set fire to the world,” Derek said and then looked at Chris. “I’m going to bring down your family.”

Chris gave him a half smile. “And I’m going to help. Out of the shadows. Right out there in the light.”

“If I am going to be a Beta, I’m like the number one Beta, like number two to you,” Scott said.

Derek shot him a look. “A defiant right hand, this is going to go so well.”

Allison dimpled. “And me. I’m a Hale too.”

Derek turned to Stiles. Stiles gave him a little shrug.

“Okay, tell me your plan,” Derek said to Stiles.

Stiles grinned. “Its even better now that I know that my dad had a super secret identity. You’re going to love this.”

Derek fixed him with a long stare. “Probably not.”

Stiles shrugged. “But you’re going to do it anyway.”

The edge of Derek’s mouth quirked.

**

Derek was drumming his hands against the control panel.

“This is ridiculous,” Derek said.

“We have a psychotic running full force at you his eyes empty and his talon’s ablaze, we have an evil geriatric with his dirty little fingers in every single place in this universe, and we have your baby moms – “

“Let’s not call her that,” Derek growled.

“What shall we call her?” Stiles asked.

“Bitch,” Derek replied.

“Right on,” Stiles said approvingly and then looked at the alert on the nav screen. “And the point of no return has been reached.”

With a deft hand he quickly entered a pass code.

“We can get on planet without anyone knowing? Deucalion is probably watching,” Derek said reaching for the controls.

“I have an in,” Stiles said. “My dad’s the sheriff.”

“Of a tiny town in the middle of nowhere,” Derek pointed out.

“And I have his pass code and a inquisitive mind about planet side systems,” Stiles said.

There was a buzz from the com.

“Just on time,” Stiles said, turning on the vid feed.

The Sheriff’s face came on screen. For a second he just looked at the first image of his son in over a year.

“I saw my code had accessed the backdoor entrance,” he said, his voice a little heavy. “I thought that either there was some kind of coup happening or my son was coming home.”

Stiles grinned fondly. “A little of both, dad.”

The Sheriff ran a hand over his face. “It has been very quiet here this last year.”

“Are you bored? You totally missed me. Also guess what dad you just got a whole lot cooler,” Stiles said.

The Sheriff stilled. “Argent telling stories?”

Stiles pulled back a little. “Some. This guy too.”

Derek leaned in.

The Sheriff blinked. “I didn’t expect you back here.”

“That makes two of us,” Derek said.

“Stiles what are you up to?” said a father who had seen far too much of his son’s shenanigans.

Stiles grinned. “We’re going to land at our hangar. Meet us, quietly. We’re not supposed to be here.”

The Sheriff groaned. “Welcome home, son. Let’s see what you did this time.”

“Missed you too, dad,” Stiles said flicking off the screen.

“I fed you the coordinates,” Stiles said, leaning back. “We need to go down smoothly and quietly. We need to be invisible.”

“I know Stiles, I was the one being attacked by Deucalion and his goons,” Derek seethed.

“I never asked how many there were,” Stiles asked.

“You are our strategist,” Derek muttered. “We are doomed.”

**

“You are really good at this,” Stiles said as they touched down.

Derek shrugged off the compliment.

“You’re really bad at people saying nice things to you,” Stiles said getting up and stretching.

Scott popped in. “There is a car coming.”

Stiles closed his eyes and crossed his fingers. “Please be my dad, please don’t be someone who is going to kill us.”

“Attempt,” Scott amended. “We’re a mighty pack.”

“We’re about two-thirds of a pack short of being anything that can take on.”

Scott made a face. “This sucks.”

Stiles sighed and walked to the port door.

“The cops are here,” Scott said, watching the Sheriff’s car drive up.

“That isn’t flashy or anything,” Derek said, coming up behind them and crossing his arms.

Scott awkwardly mimicked Derek. Stiles tried not to grin.

“If he doesn’t drive the car then it would be conspicuous,” Stiles said. “He always drives that car.”

The Sheriff got out of his car and looked at the group. He saw his son and there was a little bit of fatherly resignation. Then his eyes went to Derek.

“Alpha Hale,” the Sheriff said. “Welcome home.”

Derek blinked repeatedly.

“Hi to you too dad,” Stiles said, clearing his throat, trying to break the seriousness of the moment.

“He’s showing respect and doing things by protocol,” Chris said, coming from the ship. “You must recognize the Alpha before the pack.”

“Stilinski,” Hale said, giving a slight nod of his head.

Chris strode forward and reached out his hand to the Sheriff. The Sheriff pulled Chris in for a manly hug.

When he let go Stiles jumped forward and wrapped his arms around his father. The Sheriff held on.

“So glad you’re safe at home,” the Sheriff said, holding his son.

“That might be premature,” Chris said.

The Sheriff didn’t let go of his son, but looked at Chris. Stiles gently pulled away.

“See dad,” Stiles began. “Deucalion is kind of after us and as you probably know Gerard Argent isn’t going to react well to the reemergence of Derek Hale and I have a plan, but –“

Stiles trailed off and looked at Derek. “Am I pack? Is that why he had to say hello to you first?”

“Yep,” Derek said, sending uncomfortable looks at the Sheriff.

“That is what we did on the ride here,” Chris said. “We’re all pack.”

“But what about needing three wolves for strength?” Scott asked.

“We still need three,” Derek said.

“But having us as pack is a good start,” Chris said.

Stiles rubbed his hands together. “We have a civil war to start.”

The Sheriff just looked at his son. Stiles grinned.

“I’m not sure it’s a civil war,” Derek said, glaring at Stiles. “Its not quite what a civil war is.”

“An insurgence?” Stiles said, grinning back at him.

Derek bit back a grin despite himself, his feelings for Stiles were written all over his face.

The Sheriff looked between the two of them. “Really? In the entire universe, you two?”

Stiles looked at his father and opened his mouth. The Sheriff held up his hand.

“We’re doing other things now,” the Sheriff sighed. “Well talk about this later.”

The Sheriff gave Derek a long look. “I hope you know what you are getting into, Derek.”

Scott started laughing. “Dating the Sheriff’s son has downgraded you from Alpha Hale to little Derek.”

The Sheriff let out a groan and Derek let out a growl. Scott stiffened and then looked accusingly at Derek. Derek gave him an angry smile.

“Alpha,” Derek said.

“Children,” Chris said with command under his voice. “We have a vicious Were after us, we have to start the plan, and I would prefer it if we could get my daughter some medical attention.”

Scott perked up. “I know a really good nurse.”

The Sheriff pulled out his com. “Let me do this. You guys aren’t supposed to be here. I don’t know what you have planned, but lets keep your presence here under wraps until I do.”

Derek tilted his head and looked at the Sheriff calling Melissa McCall. “He’s already figured out most of the plan.” He looked over at Stiles. “Your family is frightening.”

“Wait until you meet Grandma,” Stiles said with a grin.

“I’m not even sure if I like you,” Derek said.

“Come on,” Stiles said, walking to the back of the hangar. “I have a bunch of equipment in the back. I’m going to make you king.”

Derek’s shoulders slumped.

Stiles looked back at him. “A reluctant king, but a king none the less.”

**

Two hours later Stiles was illuminated by the glowing of his screen. Derek was in the corner, staring at the ceilings, when Scott came in.

“My part is almost done,” Stiles said without looking up. “I’m going to need some major info from everyone else.”

Scott’s brow creased.

Derek studied him. “What is wrong.”

Scott shook his head.

Stiles took a deep breath. “Scott is picking up on the fact that this may be a situation that is a little out of my depth.”

Derek just looked at him. “I knew it.”

“This is like super secret cryptology and the most elite worm that I’ve ever seen and I can totally piggyback it, but I probably have hours and there is a shit load of things to do and we’re all going to be fighting and killing in the very near future and I can do it all, but I can’t do it all right now and I don’t even know where to start,” Stiles said.

Scott’s eyes were wide. “The flip out is here.”

Derek reached out and put his hand on the back of Stiles’s neck.

“You will not freak out,” Derek said with a velvet growl. “My life is in your hands. I never wanted to return to Beacon Hills, but you said trust me.”

Stiles looked up at him with wide eyes.

“If you don’t get your fingers moving I’m never having sex with you again,” Derek said tonelessly.

Stiles’s panic faded and he turned to his station and his fingers began flying over the screen.

Scott nodded. “You’re getting pretty good at reading Stiles.”

Derek took a deep breath.

“Chris and the Sheriff have something brewing, they whisper like gossipy girls,” Scott said.

Derek looked at him. “What were they saying?”

Scott looked chagrined.

“He was making googly eyes at Allison and not using his super werewolf hearing at the same time,” Stiles said, staring at his screen.

Derek rolled his eyes. “Number One Beta.”

“I can’t multitask,” Scott shrugged. “They were talking about filling out the Pack.”

Stiles sat up. “So I have bad news and probably worse news if we live through the bad news.”

“Sounds like the usual,” Scott said, peering at his screen. “Oh fuck.”

Derek looked over.

Stiles’s eyes glazed over for a second and then he snapped to.

Derek’s mouth quirked. “I’m going to hate this aren’t I?”

“Probably,” Stiles said with an answering grin. “But you are going to do it anyway.”

**

The Sheriff and Chris were staring at Stiles incredulously.

Scott was all but cackling and Derek looked a little impressed.

“I’m assuming you guys know enough about these two guys to know that this is the kind of thing that would work,” Stiles said. “This is the only way. We get the message out before anyone can stop it and then we hold our ground while the universe shakes.”

“A little overly dramatic, but yeah that is what you are planning to do,” Chris said, thinking over the plan.

“I still don’t have a pack,” Derek said.

The Sheriff and Chris exchanged a look.

“So what aren’t you telling me this time?” Stiles said. “I am making a plan. I do need all the facts. Seriously, I’m mostly an adult and I’ve got us this far. Stop being all adult knowing better.”

“We have a pack,” Chris said uncomfortably.

“Maybe,” the Sheriff said looking to the doorway.

“You can’t just instill loyalty,” Derek said rolling his eyes. “That makes for a terrible pack, if you want me to be strong I’m going to need wolves who are absolutely loyal and who are tied to me and apparently I’m going to need these in about three hours.”

Chris and the Sheriff made very uncomfortable faces.

“Scott!”

They all turned around and Melissa McCall came in, running towards Scott. Scott caught her in a tight hug.

“You’re back,” Melissa said.

Derek and Stiles were watching as a trio slowly followed in. They were all wearing leather. A skinny boy with a scarf, a vixen with flowing blonde hair, and a tall hulking man.

Almost in sync Derek and Stiles turned to look at the Sheriff and Chris.

“Speak,” Derek commanded.

The Sheriff crossed his arms and looked at Chris.

Chris glared at the Sheriff.

“I’ve had to deal with them for the last eighteen years,” the Sheriff said, looking at the band of three. “I’ve done my duty.”

Chris looked at the three of them and then at Derek.

“Your uncle liked the ladies, three of them were a married woman, a bartender, and a girl who was barely legal,” Chris said. “Three of them had kids a few months after the fire.”

Derek looked over at them. “You’re kidding.”

“They haven’t had it easy,” Chris said, well aware that the trio could hear him. “Your uncle isn’t really a topic that brings joy to them. Isaac father was an asshole and that was made worse by the fact that he had daily living proof that his wife cheated on him. Erica’s mother never wanted a child and she lived that. Boyd’s mother was young and left him with his elderly grandmother. Peter Hale is not something on their birth certificate that they wear with pride.”

Derek crossed his arms. “Good thing that you brought them here. I’m sure they’ll love their long lost cousin, sign up to be my new Betas.”

Chris raised an eyebrow.

“He told us you killed Peter.”

Derek looked at them.

The girl stepped forward. “The Sheriff assures us that you were the one that ended the life that started ours.”

Her moves were seductive and predatory. “Is that true?”

“Yes,” Derek said, staring at her.

“And you’re the Alpha?” the skinny one asked.

“Yes,” Derek said, looking at him.

They both looked towards the big guy.

He nodded.

The girl stepped forward. “Our current Alpha is probably one of the weakest passive walked over by every official in the galaxy,” the girl said coming forward. “But she isn’t insane, which is why the Sheriff got us in her camp. We’ve hated Peter Hale our entire lives, and we’ve been taught to hate being wolves, to hate ourselves, but I don’t want to live like that. I want to run in the woods and howl at the moon. I want to shift and not feel dirty. I want to be who I am, no apologies.”

Derek put his hand in his pockets.

The skinny guy came forward. “You’re our blood and you have first claim on us. You need support and we’d like not to live in detainment camps. You’ve got the Alpha Hale and what we’re asking is if you’re a Peter Hale or a Talia Hale?”

“And you’re going to trust my word on this?” Derek asked.

The skinny guy cocked his head. “My dad had a temper and the Sheriff intervened. Erica’s never been to jail because the Sheriff has taken care of her. Boyd isn’t a shut in because of the Sheriff. We trust him and he vouches for you. We just need you to say it.”

Stiles looked at his father. “So many secrets.”

“I’m my mother’s son,” Derek said quietly. “But I’m my own man. I don’t claim to be the Hale legacy, but I’m all that there is left.”

The skinny guy pursed his lips. “We could kill you. We’re in line for the Hale.”

“Hey,” Stiles said interjecting himself in the process.

The skinny guy squinted his eyes. “Little Stilinski? This has nothing to do with you.”

“I’m pack,” Stiles said. “I also am the one who has the plan.”

Erica smiled evilly. “Well, we should leave then. That sounds disastrous.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and looked at Derek. “You told me you have nothing left. I should have listened to you. I can still make you Tyler Hoechiln so you don’t have to deal with your family.”

Derek’s mouth quirked and looked at the three young wolves.

“You’re my blood and I’m sorry if that hasn’t been a good thing,” Derek said to his assembled cousins. “Give me a chance to make it better.”

They just looked at him.

“I’ll be your Beta,” Boyd spoke up.

“Can’t be worse than right now,” Isaac agreed.

Erica tilted her head. “We’re going to raise a little hell?”

“As long as you listen to me,” Derek said.

Erica’s nose wrinkled but she nodded. “I’m in.”

Stiles made a face and sighed. “So we’re Beta’d up.”

Everyone stood looking at each other, everyone was a little wary.

Scott still had his arm around his mother. “I’m still number one Beta right?”

The three cousins looked at him.

“So are we taking back our Beta?” Isaac asked.

“Okay children,” the Sheriff said stepping forward. “We’re going to go catch up, this is Chris he’ll fill you in on what is going on. Scott take Melissa to Allison. Stiles, Derek, we’ve got about an hour to go live if we’re going to keep on schedule for this absolutely insane thing we’re going to do.”

“Hey Sheriff,” Erica said. “Are we going to die?”

The Sheriff looked at the group. “A nurse, a sheriff, an ex hunter son of Gerard Argent, a Carrier, a bitten Were, three juvenile delinquent wolves, and my son, all under the command of an Alpha who has been a mercenary for most of the last twenty years, taking on the power of the universe? What could possibly go wrong?”

**

“You ready?” Stiles said.

Derek looked at the tablet in front of him.

The Sheriff walked in and nodded. “Paperwork filed, somewhat on shaky legal grounds, but you are official Alpha Hale. You are a bonifide Alpha and also chief of the Beacon Hills territory.”

Stiles nodded. “We need to get the word out before you mysteriously disappear.”

Derek closed his eyes. “This is the last moment of peace I’m ever going to have.”

He opened his eyes and looked at Stiles.

“Actually that probably was right before I met you,” Derek told him.

Stiles shrugged. “I like you too.”

The Sheriff shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure that you could have picked anyone in the known universe who is more complicated to date. Either one of you.”

Derek looked uncomfortable.

“No offense,” the Sheriff said quickly. “I’m actually very happy for you two.”

“We’re just dating, dad,” Stiles said with a long-suffering sigh. “You don’t have to start worrying about hiring a prenump lawyer quite yet.”

“I have no idea what dating means for you kids these days,” the Sheriff asked.

“Well since you were probably born literally like seventy years ago, that makes sense,” Stiles said.

The Sheriff smirked. “So tell me son of mine what does dating mean in your day and age?”

“Well as awkward and uncomfortable as this all is,” Derek interrupted. “We’re kind of on a deadline.”

“You’ve got one chance Derek,” Stiles said. “We’re going to do this live do you know what you want to say?”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “I’ve got it.”

“Are you sure?” Stiles asked. “I mean this is a lot of sentences all at once.”

“I’m sure, turn it on, lets start this,” Derek said.

“You’re on,” Stiles flicked a switch.

“Hi,” Derek began and Stiles cringed. Then Derek shifted and suddenly he was both stern and open. “I am Derek Hale, son of Talia Hale. I am the Alpha Hale of Beacon Hills. Almost twenty years ago my family was assassinated to bring down the Were movement. Since that day anyone with Lycan blood in their veins is considered a second-class citizen. I was a child when it happened and my sister took me and ran from the people hunting my family. We didn’t have any defenses then.”

Derek leaned in, becoming more imposing. “I’m not a child any more. I am the Alpha Hale and I will not be cowed. For twenty years the orchestrators of my family’s demise have attempted to eradicate Were-kind and they’ve mostly succeeded. I am here to take a stand. I am here to bring to light what has been happening in the shadows, I am here to stand before you and tell you the truth. I am here to stand for the Were’s because we’ve been beaten down.”

Derek stared straight ahead. “Gerard and Kate Argent I accuse you of the assassination of Alpha Talia Hale of Beacon Hills, Supreme Councilor of the Weres. I accuse you of the murder of Henry Hale, husband of Talia. I accuse you of the murder of Cora Hale daughter of Talia and Henry. I accuse you of murder of Alexis Hale, sister-in-law of Talia Hale and the children of Alexis and Peter Hale, Donna, Michael, and Katy. I accuse you of the murder of Ruth Hale, mother of Talia. I accuse you of the murder of seven other members of my family gathered together for Christmas. We were of peace and I’m still of peace, but I will have justice for my family. I stand with Christopher Argent. I stand with what is left of my family. I stand with my pack. I stand tall and strong and accuse you of attempting genocide. I stand so we don’t have to cower any longer. I am the Alpha Hale and I am reestablishing the Counsellorship of the Were’s. I will speak for them, this is my family’s legacy. I am Alpha Hale and all future laws and ordinances for the Weres will go through me.”

Derek nodded to Stiles and Stiles flipped off the switch.

The Sheriff and Stiles were staring at him.

“Was that enough sentences strung together?” Derek asked Stiles with a smirk.

“Yeah,” Stiles said. “They were pretty good sentences too.”

The Sheriff smiled fondly at him. “You are your mother’s son.”

Derek nodded, a little sadness in his eyes, and a little pride.

“Yes, sir,” Derek said.

**

Erica ran a clawed finger over a pretty impressive hastily thrown together arenseal.

“You guys are really cute with your guns,” she said, eyes glinting gold. She turned to Chris. “You going to shoot Daddy with these or take out the big bad blind wolf?”

Chris looked at the Sheriff. “Eighteen years? You’re a far better man than I am.”

“She used to be nice,” Stiles said. “We used to share comic books in grade school.”

Erica laughed, something sweet and girly.

Derek looked at the assembled hard wear. “Where did you even get this. Is this is the sword that we got from that ninja.”

Chris shrugged. “We kept everything here.”

“You had bombs in our storage warehouse?” Stiles said indignantly. “You do know that I used to crawl around here. I was a very curious child.”

“You didn’t find it,” the Sheriff said. “You didn’t die.”

Stiles rubbed his forehead. “I’m rethinking my entire childhood. It was all a lie.”

“No,” the Sheriff replied. “You ate your vegetables, got good grades, and got Scott into trouble, that is all truth.”

“Is there anything else you aren’t telling me?” Stiles said, looking down at his tablet. “We have about twenty minutes until Deucalion’s ship is in orbit.”

The Sheriff didn’t say anything.

“Let me guess,” Stiles said. “I actually have some kind of latent super power? A dragon. Am I really a shape shifting dragon?”

“That would be totally cool,” Scott said.

“You aren’t a shape shifting dragon,” Derek said.

Stiles gave him a look

“I had a little help,” the Sheriff said.

All eyes went to him.

“To speed up the paper work I needed someone in the government,” the Sheriff continued.

“My dad,” Scott said.

“How is the old man,” Stiles said with a voice laced with sarcasm. “We haven’t heard from him in what, three years. Does he know that his son is a werewolf? Does he even care?”

“We didn’t get that far,” the Sheriff said. “I think that maybe that is something that you two should go over.”

Scott looked down at his hands and his mother squeezed his shoulders.

“Maybe we’ll just die instead,” Scott muttered.

“Scott,” Melissa warned.

Scott gave his mother a crooked smile.

“He tried to save a family of werewolves,” Melissa said quietly. “He’s going to be fine with it.”

Scott shrugged. “It doesn’t matter either way.”

Everybody just stood there in a very uncomfortable silence.

“Erica, Isaac, Boyd,” the Sheriff finally said. “We need to do some quickie paperwork for you.”

“Come one Scott,” Melissa said. “Lets go check on Allison.”

Chris just turned and went to the weapons.

Stiles and Derek just looked at each other.

“We’re not having impromptu pre-fight sex,” Derek said.

Stiles pouted. “This relationship is turning out to be no fun.”

Derek shifted on his feet. “I’d rather not start my hopefully long tenure as Alpha with my pants down.”

Stiles looked at him for a minute and then cocked his head and motioned for Derek to follow. Stiles took him to the doorway of the hangar. Behind the hangar there was only forests. The sky was inky, dotted with pinpricks of light. High in the sky was the shining full moon.

Derek looked up at it. There was a reverence in his eyes as he looked up at the moon that he was born under.

“It’s been awhile,” Stiles said softly.

Derek’s eyes got luminous and he swallowed and nodded.

“Run,” Stiles said. “These are your woods, this is your land. We aren’t on a ship or a station. You’re free and there aren’t walls. I’ll cover for you, you have a little bit of time.”

Derek looked over at him and in a blink of an eye had his hands in Stiles’s hair and their mouths pressed together. Stiles grabbed for him, pulling him close, bodies rubbing against each other.

After a few minutes Derek pulled away and rest his forehead against Stiles’s.

“I love you,” Derek said.

He pulled away and looked at a speechless Stiles. He gave Stiles a little smirk and roared into the woods. Stiles looked after him and went back indoors.

**

Chris cocked his laser gun. “Deucalion breeched the atmosphere. Don’t tell me Derek ran away.”

Stiles didn’t looked up from his tablet.

“He’ll be here,” Stiles said, looking up at Chris. “How far out are your father’s people?”

Chris paused. “The tracking signals are coming they’re nearly here and it isn’t just Regulators. The signals are both his and Kate’s.”

Stiles’s eyes widened. “Kate?”

“You didn’t plan for that?” Chris asked.

Stiles shook his head.

“Does it change anything?” Chris asked.

“I don’t even know how to begin to plan for her,” Stiles replied. Your father is making ridiculously good time. Do you have any advice? The plan didn’t include Kate.”

The edge of Chris’s mouth quirked. “Nobody ever really has been able to figure for her, that is what makes her a great partner for my father.”

“Thinking about switching sides Chris?” Stiles asked.

Chris shook his head. “My daughter and I have chosen our side. I chose my side a long time ago.”

“You chose Derek?” Stiles snickered. “The kid you got arrested with?”

“I chose the Hales,” Chris said. “Right now that includes Derek, Allison, and the delinquents out there.”

“I’m sure they appreciate it,” Stiles replied.

Chris turned towards Stiles. “Where is Hale?”

Stiles looked down at his tablet. “He’s around.”

Chris cocked his head. “I never expected to see this town again. I never wanted to see my sister or father again.”

“Its pretty sucky,” Stiles said. “Sorry for brining you into hell.”

Chris shrugged. “I never thought I would see Hale again either, but I was kind of hoping that I would.”

“For Allison?” Stiles asked.

Chris nodded. “Neither one of them did anything wrong in all of this. They both are just caught in the wake of it all. I hoped that one day she would get to meet him.”

Stiles looked a little surprised. “That is amazingly open-minded of you.”

Chris gave a little smile. “I have had twenty years, I have watched her grow up, he missed that. This whole goddamned world is unfair. I’m going to make it better.”

His grip was tight around his weapon. Stiles gave a little smile and opened his mouth as they heard the thrusters of a landing ship.

Chris checked his gun and moved to grab more of his weapons.

“Everybody on deck,” Chris bellowed. “We have company.”

There was a bustle from elsewhere in the hangar.

Stiles looked up from his tablet. “It’s Deucalion.”

“Now would be a good time for Hale to be here,” Chris said.

Stiles tapped his finger against the tablet. “Yes it would be.”

The Sheriff came in and grabbed some weapons, followed by Scott, who was in his Beta form.

“Are we going to fight?” Scott asked.

“We’re going to see if we can do pre-fight banter for as long as possible,” Stiles said. “You know the plan.”

“Can you do prefight banter?” Scott asked. “I remember high school and quite a few gambling games that don’t really fill me with confidence.”

The Sheriff turned on his gun. “We don’t have another option. Where is Derek?”

“Where is Derek indeed?”

Everyone turned, wolves in full face, guns pointing at the new man and his entourage.

The man was tall with sunglasses. Next to him were creepy identical twins, a man built like a roadblock, and a woman who seemed to be the most dangerous of them all.

“Hi,” Stiles said, waving a little. “I don’t think we’ve met. Who are you?”

The man looked straight at Stiles.

“I’m Deucalion,” the man ground out.

“Never heard of you,” Stiles said.

The man seemed to take in the assembled group of overtly hostile people.

“Something makes me think that is a lie,” Deucalion said.

Stiles shrugged. “You caught me. I did think you would be taller.”

“Where is Derek Hale?” Deucalion asked.

Stiles smiled. “Do you want to congratulate the Alpha Hale on his return to Beacon Hills? I know that you knew his mother.”

Deucalion didn’t alter his facial expression, but he seemed to being to seethe. “Is he now.”

Stiles held up his tablet. “It’s all over the feeds. You should totally see it. Derek was awesome as he announced that he was going to take over for the fight for wolf kind. He’s going to make things better.”

“The grumpy little pup?” Deucalion said with an awful scary smile. “You think that he will be able to stand against what is put upon us?”

Stiles raised an eyebrow. “Yes.”

Deucalion let out a laugh. “I have a better idea.”

“It seems like you have quite a low estimation of Derek,” Stiles said. “It also seems like you want to kill the son of your best friend, I’m just inferring here, but isn’t that a little rude?”

“This is war son,” Deucalion said. “Sacrifices have to be made, we need the best chance we can.”

“It seems like you are really underestimating Derek,” Stiles said. “Why don’t you give him a chance and if it looks like he is screwing things up, then you kill him. I’m just spit balling here.”

“Or I could just take the power that he has and I can take my rightful place,” Deucalion countered. “Before he makes a mess of it.”

“My uncle thought he could take it,” Derek said striding up, shirtless and a little sweaty. Erica let out a low whistle.

“Back off, he’s mine,” Stiles said.

Derek and Deucalion ignored them.

“My uncle underestimated me,” Derek said, eyes flashing red.

“And let me guess, it was the last thing he did,” Deucalion mocked.

Derek gave a smile. “You can leave now.”

“We do have guests coming,” Stiles agreed. “Important guests.”

“I’m offended,” Deucalion said. “You don’t think that I’m important?”

“You’ve looked the universe for my sister and now for me,” Derek replied. “I find you annoying.”

“Then move your people away and let me snap your neck and it will all be over,” Deucalion said. “Then we will all get what we want.”

Stiles raised his hand. “I won’t.”

“Pity,” Deucalion said with absolutely no sense of remorse.

“I’ve never done anything to you,” Derek told him.

“You don’t have to, you still have what I want,” Deucalion said. “You were born to it, but they tried to destroy it, they almost did. I will not let that happen again. I am going to take your power and I’m going to make them pay for beginning the genocide of all of our kind.”

Derek took a step forward, through the handful of people on his side.

“My mother taught you better than that,” Derek said. “We don’t do that.”

“You’ve been gone a long time,” Deucalion said. “We will do that now.”

“No,” Derek said.

Stiles’s tablet beeped.

“Seventeen,” Stiles said.

“What happens in seventeen?” Deucalion asked. “Your guests arrive?”

“And we are the least of your worries,” Derek said.

Deucalion took off his glasses and revealed white eyes that turned glowing red.

“Then I need your Alpha,” Deucalion replied.

Derek put his hands to his side. “Come and get it.”

Both sides surged forward. Boyd seemed planted as he faced off against the big guy, Erica had a manic smile on her face as she face off against the woman, they circled each other taking in each other. Isaac and Scott went towards the twins and exchanged a startled look as the twins began to merge. The Sheriff and Chris paused to watch the transmogrification of the two creatures into one. They quickly recovered and offered cover fire to the wolves.

Stiles took in a deep breath. Seventeen minutes was an eternity. He watched as Derek circled Deucalion, snarls and fangs elongating. Stiles backed towards the ship and ground his teeth.

He didn’t have the claws. He didn’t know what to do with guns. He had the plan.

He had done the work, he didn’t have anything to do but sit back for a few minutes. He watched Deucalion send Derek flying and he cringed. Deucalion seemed to move with a power that Stiles had never seen. True most of the wolves he had seen were neutered.

 

Stiles grit his teeth and absolutely regretted not putting himself in the fray. With his adrenaline pumping and the sounds of bodies being hit and the noises of the laser guns, he couldn’t think of a way, but he hated being on the edge.

He nearly screamed when Deucalion swiped at Derek. There was a blast and Deucalion withdrew his hand with a hiss. He looked over at Chris who was smirking.

“Wolfsbane blasts,” Chris said.

A confused look crossed Deucalion’s face.

“You know that won’t kill me?” Deucalion asked with a leer.

“What fun would that be?” Chris asked.

Derek took a swipe at Deucalion.

“Hold please, I need to take care of this and then the adults can talk,” Deucalion said.

Stiles looked down at his tablet.

He looked up at the assembled crew. His pack was getting their ass kicked by a very attuned fighting force. They didn’t stand a chance. They were untrained and young. Stiles knew this, he was well aware, but seeing it and not just plotting it was agony.

Erica’s clothes were in tatters, blood congealing along the edges. Both Scott and Isaac were on the floor. Boyd was still standing, but not by much. Chris and the Sheriff were shooting, giving relief, but it wasn’t enough, it wouldn’t be enough.

Stiles could hear the pounding in his ears, he could feel his heart beating so loudly he was sure it was a distraction to even the humans in the room.

He couldn’t look any more, he stared at his tablet, trying to block out the sounds in the room, the quiet exclamations of his side. He watched the satellite images of the hangar.

“To me,” Stiles said in almost a whisper.

Stiles was a little shocked that everyone snapped to. Immediately everyone backed off, some limped, some crawled back towards the ship, the lasers keeping Deucalion’s crew at bay.

“Surrendering?” Deucalion said, as his people looked towards the doors. “Just give me Hale, something tells me there isn’t much time.”

Scott and Isaac stood, Stiles could see it pained them, but the Betas stood behind Derek. Chris and the Sheriff to his right.

“This is what you want to be the future of wolfkind?” Deucalion asked.

At that moment black clad Regulators swept into the room.

Everyone froze and looked at them.

Stiles came forward, his tablet in his hands. Derek looked over at him. Stiles nodded.

The Regulators took up positions, guns cocked at everybody in the room.

Behind them a well dressed older man approached. Everybody in the room stood taller, there was no denying who this was.

He walked in and rung his hands looking at the scene. Finally his eyes settled on Derek.

“Well if it isn’t the last of the Hales,” Gerard said.

Derek looked over at Stiles for a second. Stiles looked over at his father. The Sheriff didn’t give anything away, nor did Chris.

Gerard’s gaze shifted towards Chris. “I expected better from you.”

Chris shrugged. “I expected that my father wouldn’t turn out to be a genocidal maniac, but apparently I was wrong.”

Stiles was watching Deucalion. The wolf was seething. He lunged at Gerard. Gerard nodded his head and there was a stun ray, bathing Deucalion in a golden light.

“Wolvesbane stun ray,” Gerard said. “It won’t keep an Alpha like him in statis for long, but this shouldn’t take long.”

Stiles smiled at the partially beaten betas around him. They were all looking at him out of the corner of their eyes, they could all feel the shift in the room.

Derek put his hands up and slowly stepped forward.

“I’ve brought you both here because you two have both had very negative and potentially negative impacts on my family and my pack,” Derek said. “I’d like to talk about it.”

Gerard let out an almost evil laugh. “Do you now?”

“Yes, sir,” Derek said.

“You just accused me of orchestrating the death of your mother,” Gerard said. “I don’t expect you want to talk.”

“Assassination,” Stiles piped up.

Gerard turned and looked at Stiles.

Stiles tried not to shiver at the glare.

“An assassination is the murder of a person of a political nature,” Stiles said, trying not to have his voice waver.

“Is she a person?” Gerard mused. “Are any of them?”

Derek was seething. “We are people. She was a person. And you killed her.”

“The fire killed her,” Gerard said with full composure.

“Kate set the fire. You set Kate on my family,” Derek said.

Gerard threw back his head. “I heard that you didn’t mind so much that she was set on you. In fact, she said that you liked it quite a bit.”

Derek looked at him and then looked over at Chris again. Chris returned the look and shook his head.

“You used Kate as a weapon against my family, against wofkind,” Derek said.

“You ran to the edge of the universe, to hide away,” Gerard sing songed. “You hid away for twenty years, most of that in statis. From your records, you were a little on the wrong side of right for the time you were awake, and you just come here and accuse me of such things.”

Derek squared his jaw. “I did. It is true.”

“I verify,” the Sheriff said, stepping forward. “I knew of five failed plots, one that you were directly orchestrating.”

Chris took a deep breath and stepped forward. “I verify.”

“Eu Tu my son?” Gerard said, not even flinching.

“You killed that family and in the vacuum of their deaths you moved against them,” Chris said.

“You would chose a family of raid dogs over your family?” Gerard said. “For shame.”

“I chose my mother,” Chris said. “She would be so ashamed of you and your actions.”

“Your mother was weak, you are weak,” Gerard sneered. “I did what was best. I did the only thing anyone could do in order to protect the human race. I am a hero.”

“You killed my family,” Derek said, his voice angry and breaking.

“And I would do it over and over again,” Gerard said. “You are a plague on men and soon you won’t be a problem any more.”

Derek looked over at Stiles, his hands were balled into fists, but he was calm.

Stiles clicked at his pad. “Uploading.”

Gerard looked at him, slowly realizing.

“There may be many who take your side,” Derek said. “But there are a great many who will not approve of the methods. We will let the truth fly and we will see which side the majority falls on.”

Gerard’s face took on red of anger.

“You will never regain your seat of power,” Gerard said. “You are weak and wild, you have come as far as you can.”

“Not hardly,” Derek said. “I believe you know Deucalion. I think that once upon a time you blinded him. I think that perhaps he would like words with you. Maybe to talk about his last twenty years finding a way to use Alpha powers to overcome the handicap that you left him with.”

The Sheriff shot at the Regulator using the stun laser and the laser went down.

“Deucalion, I’m sure that you remember Gerard,” Derek said, his eyes going red.

He moved forward and his pack followed. It was the beginning of a melee.

Chris moved slowly backwards, tapping Scott and Stiles. He leaned in and whispered.

“I don’t see Kate,” he said. “When someone in our family is turned, which happens often for Hunters, they take their own lives. If they can’t do it then we do it for them. I am more than sure that Kate won’t hesitate to do it for her half breed daughter. I have no idea why she never told my father about the child, probably a shame she is going to rectify.”

Scott was already moving, Stiles looked back.

“You keep mine safe, we’ll keep yours,” Stiles said as he rapidly followed Scott.

“Deal,” Chris said and turned towards the fight. Black clad troopers were fighting against wolves. Deucalion and Gerard were circling each other, Derek was keeping an eye on the two while working with his new betas.

Stiles shot the melee one last glance and ran after Scott. Scott was stopped in the hallways, reaching a hand out to keep Stiles from skidding and falling.

They could see Melissa blocking the doorway. “I don’t think that she wants to see you,”

Kate smirked. “Don’t you think that I should be able to comfort my daughter in this time of insanity.”

Melissa raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure there is a damned good reason you’ve never set on her.”

“Come on,” Kate said with manipulative sweetness. “Mother to mother.”

Melissa didn’t flinch. “I’m a mother because I raised a good son. I taught him right from wrong. You might have given birth to her, but you didn’t give her anything but DNA. In my mind

Stiles just watched the woman in front of him. She was older, that was to be expected. She was Allison’s mother, she also hadn’t be a CryoJumper. However, the fact that she had been a good ten years older than a teenaged Derek made his skin crawl.

“Hey lady, you lost?” Stiles said before he could stop himself.

Kate turned around and looked at him.

“Don’t you have a death to get to?” Kate said. “There are many men in the other room who are willing to help out.”

Scott has slipped between Kate and the door, putting his mother behind him.

Kate noticed the movement and raised an eyebrow.

“Are you my daughter’s boyfriend?” Kate said, venom lacing her voice. “A wolf? Of course.”

“And you think that a wolf is better than the pedophile woman who gave birth to her?” Stiles asked. “Being a wolf might not be human, but if you’re the example of human I’d rather get the bite.”

Kate pulled out her gun.

“Who does that work on?” Stiles asked. Kate shot him a look of death. “I’m just curious. Is that going to kill Melissa and me? Or is that going to kill Scott we’d kind of like to know who is going to go after you.”

“You are really are a simple creature aren’t you,” Kate said, holding the gun up to Stiles.

Scott lunged at her. She hit him with the but of her gun. Scott fell to the ground and Melissa was there with a long pipe.

Kate lay sprawled at the floor.

“You bitch,” Kate spat out blood.

“You need to leave now,” Melissa said, holding the bar up.

Kate lifted herself off the ground. “I’m not leaving. My father will take care of the rebel and things can go back to normal.”

“I wouldn’t count on that happening.”

Everyone turned to look.

Derek stood there, breathing hard. His naked chest heaved and dried blood dripped down his mouth and chest. His hair was going in every direction, and there was dried blood on his claws. The gore was almost inconsequential.

His eyes were red, glowing pulsing red. They were almost vibrating.

Stiles blinked.

“Deucalion killed your father in a fit of anger,” Derek said, his voice husky and almost a little mad. “I killed Deucalion and if you step into Allison’s room, I will absolutely rip your throat out.”

Kate took a step back. Derek smiled a little and took a step forward.

“Hey,” Stiles said, reaching a hand out to Derek’s chest.

Derek snarled at him and gnashed his teeth.

Stiles leaned in.

“Hey,” Stiles said.

Derek growled again, but he backed down, his eyes focused on Kate. Stiles looked back at her.

She was looking like she was attempting to track the situation.

“You’re all alone,” a soft voice said. “Nobody is going to come for you.”

Allison stood in the doorway, she looked ashen and her hand was at the wound on her side. She was moving and speaking slowly.

She cocked her head at Kate.

“You’re Allison,” Kate said, light coming in her eyes.

Allison nodded warily.

“You’re my daughter,” Kate said moving forward. Melissa stuck the metal pipe between Kate and Allison.

“Chris Argent is my father,” Allison said, staring her down. “I don’t have a mother.”

Kate looked like she was trying not to smirk. “Then I am your aunt.”

Allison nodded. “Do you really think that you can appeal to me? My father is a good man and he moved heaven and earth to keep me away from you. The man who gave me life is willing to take on the world to keep me safe. You seduced a child and killed his family, my family, and didn’t seem to look back for twenty years. Chris Argent gave me strength and courage, Derek Hale’s blood flows through my veins. Just because you were forced to carry me for nine months doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Kate began to breathe deeply.

“I’m quite sure, with everything I know about the Argents you would most likely kill me as a mix breed abomination,” Allison said softly. “Tell me that isn’t true.”

“I would never,” Kate said. “I’m your mother.”

“Lie,” Derek said, lunging for Kate.

Stiles and Scott stood in his way.

Allison stepped forward. “The first thing you did was lie to me.”

Derek was breathing heavily, Allison turned away from Kate and turned to Derek.

“She’s not worth it,” Allison said, reaching up and touching the blood on him. “You have enough blood on your hands. I won’t ask this.”

“What if I want to?” Derek said, his voice a bit manic.

Allison looked at Scott and Stiles and motioned for them to move back. When they finally cleared the hallway she moved from in-between him and Kate.

“The choice is yours, Dad,” Allison said. “You can kill her or you can let her walk away and exist in a world that doesn’t want her. The world that she exiled you from, the world that you have just announced yourself king of. This is you could let her live in it for the next twenty years.”

Derek tore his eyes away from Kate and looked at Allison. She held her hand to her side and reached the other towards Derek.

“Lets go check on everyone else,” Allison said. “She isn’t even worth it.”

Derek looked back at her. For a second, he seemed to seethe. Then he looked at Allison and it was like he was waking up, as if he was seeing her for the first time again.

He reached out and touched her face, humanity coming back into face.

Then he looked over at Stiles and the edges of his mouth quirked.

“Lead on,” Derek said, turning his back on Kate and following Stiles out. Melissa and Scott followed, leaving Kate there with a confused look on her face.

Stiles lead them out to the bay, bodies lay on the ground and Chris and the Sheriff were tying up the remaining men.

Gerard lay on the ground, his sightless eyes staring into space. Deucalion’s body lay bloody and in tatters nearby.

The Sheriff got up and looked at the carnage. He and Chris walked towards Derek. Erica, Boyd, and Isaac circled the captives. The three of them were predatory and intimidating.

“They’re going to be a handful,” Stiles remarked.

Derek watched the three of them as Chris came and put his arm around Allison’s other side.

The Sheriff looked at the carnage and looked at his son.

“You did this,” the Sheriff said tiredly.

Stiles wrinkled his nose. “What do you mean? I just put the pieces together.”

“You managed to pit Gerard against Deucalion and have Derek come out a hero,” the Sheriff said with a little awe. “How long did you have to work on this?”

Stiles thought for a second and then shrugged. “Fifteen hours? Derek had this whole secret identity and you guys really hid him deep.”

The Sheriff just stared at Stiles and then looked at Chris for confirmation. Chris started laughing.

“You risked our lives and this town on a plan my nineteen year old son came up with on the fly?” the Sheriff said.

Derek was looking at Stiles with a glow in his eye.

“Oh god, he thinks it is attractive,” the Sheriff muttered walking away and pulling out his portable com. “The world is probably going to implode.”

**

Derek looked tired.

Which was an understatement of the fact that he had probably slept ten hours in two months.

Stiles popped up, bright faced. “Do you remember fun?”

Derek used the last of his strength to glare at him. “My entire family was burned when I was fifteen and I’ve been on the run for twenty years.”

Stiles made a face. “I bet teenaged you was a barrel of laughs. We’ve been working for two months straight and I’m not entirely sure that you’ve sleep in that time. I’ve declared tonight fun night because your evil trio of cousins are scaring everyone and even Scott is being bitchy and everyone is going to sleep all day long and then we’re going out tonight and then tomorrow we will begin to drone again.”

Derek looked around his command center. They had turned the hangar into a media center. There were coms and conference stations and constant calls. Outside the hangar a small compound of wolves were coming to pledge to Derek.

The city stretched on and all of them wanted Derek’s attention, wanted conversation to see if they would pledge to the Alpha Hale, to see if he was actually worthy.

Stiles smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ve got some place quiet where you can actually get some sleep. It’s not fun, but you seem to dislike fun.”

Derek looked up at the ceiling. “I should have become Tyler Hoechiln.”

Stiles pulled at him. “Wait for that.”

**

Derek didn’t remember falling asleep, but he must have because he woke up in Stiles’s land jumper, the world wasn’t light anymore. He blinked a little and let his eyes adjust. He was in a clearing in the woods. Stiles was leaning against a tree, his face illuminated by his tablet.

Derek yawned and got up and stretched his cramped muscles. He walked over to Stiles and put his hand on the back of Stiles’s neck. Stiles rubbed into his hand.

“How long was I out?” Derek asked.

“About fifteen hours,” Stiles said. “You’re going to be late for fun.”

Derek took a look around and his hand fell from Stiles’s neck.

“This isn’t fun,” Derek said in a flat voice.

Stiles stood up and looked around, his screen going out.

“No,” Stiles said softly. “But this is what you came back for.”

Derek took a long moment and looked around.

In front of them was a moss-covered house, what was left of it. Part of it was missing, a few charred bones of the house could be seen in the moonlight.

Derek’s eyes were riveted on the house. He swallowed and just looked at it. His eyes started glistening in the moonlight.

Stiles picked up his pad. “In the last two months you have reversed twelve laws on five planets against Weres. You have helped two Alphas become Alphas, not just puppets. You have gathered 293 betas, while is way too much for a permanent pack, they are no longer Omegas. Were violence is down and twenty-seven camps have been closed. In two months you’ve changed the world.”

“I didn’t do it alone,” Derek said softly, still looking out at the burned out remains of his childhood home.

“And comments like that are why the people who died in that house would be so proud of you,” Stiles said quietly.

Derek pressed his lips together and then, like a man in a trance he walked towards the house. He walked through the overgrown yard, up the rotting stairs to the door, hanging by the top hinge. Derek reached out and touched the frame.

“I remember walking through this door a million times,” Derek said. “After school, after runs, teasing my sisters. I remember my mom taking me by the hand out to my first say of school.”

Stiles stood and watched him.

“We walked to school, she knew I needed to expend energy before being around kids,” Derek said, his voice going in a trance. “She held my hand the entire way. She told me that I had to be gentle with people because I was stronger, that because I was stronger I had to look out for those who were weaker.”

Derek took a deep breath and looked at Stiles.

“My mother would be proud of me,” Derek said in barely a whisper.

And the first time it sounded like he meant it.

Stiles nodded in agreement.

Derek swallowed. “You brought me here, you gave me the chance to be here.”

Stiles shrugged. “Guilty.”

“How do you even know that these things could work?” Derek asked, leaping down from the porch. Coming to stand before Stiles. “Why did you take a chance.”

Stiles shrugged. “My mom always used to say I lived on curiosity and dumb luck.”

Derek cupped Stiles’s grinning face.

“Thank you,” Derek said, his face a little full of wonder and so much happiness.

“I love you too,” Stiles said.

Derek shook his head. “You promised me fun. I want to find out what this fun is.”

Stiles grinned even more.

“Follow me, come see the world,” Stiles said, scampering away.

Derek bounded on his heels.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not entirely sure that I thought I would finish this. For better or worse here it was. Thank you for reading.


End file.
